First Wave: Destiny is what you do with it
by Angel17
Summary: Continued from Lost Prophesies. The Second Wave is about to hit. Evil Aliens appear in Roswell, enemy spaceships hover above, and a group of strange demon hunters show up. Who do the Royal Four trust? Crossover with Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Roswell.
1. Something Blue

**First Wave: "Destiny is what you do with it"**

* * *

Disclaimer:_ Roswell, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and First Wave are not mine (obviously). I am borrowing the characters and their respective worlds for this story, which is written purely for fun._

Authors note: _This is my second story in a three part series. The first story revolves around the lives of the characters from Roswell._

_From this point on, however, the story includes the characters from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. If you have any questions, comments or constructive critique, let me know._

_If you haven't yet read the first story, and would like to, you can find it at my profile page, called **First Wave: "Lost Prophesies"**_

A/N 2: I have created a crossover / alternate universe to suit my needs for this story. For this reason you will find that although some things match the story lines of the respective shows, most things will be different.  
**Things you need to know from the first story**: In the Roswell Universe, the fourth alien is Maria, she is the younger sister of Max and Isabel. She was adopted by the Whitman family and left New Mexico before meeting her fellow aliens. When Max, Isabel, Michael and Liz discover her existence they begin a 3 year long search. During this time Max is taken by the FBI and Isabel finally informs her father of her alien heritage.

Isabel, Michael and Liz become very close in their shared grief as they search for the two missing aliens.

Eventually Maria and Alex are found in New York and agree to return to New Mexico to follow up on some clues on Max's whereabouts.

At this point I introduce Cade Foster from the TV Series The First Wave. He along with some friends are tracking Aliens called the Gua who are attempting to take over Earth. He uses lost predictions made by Nostradamus to aid him in his search, this is how he discovers the existence of the Royal Four.

He assumes that Sheriff Valenti is an ally of the aliens and enlists his help to find the four Aliens, whom he believes are the worlds only hope at stopping the Gua. Together, Cade, Jim, Phillip Evans, Liz, Michael, Isabel, Maria and Alex rescue Max.

Unbeknown to them there is a third Alien who watches them and destroys the FBI base after Max is rescued.

In this second story I introduce the characters of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Everything up until season 4 in the Buffy Universe remains the same, however, they are only introduced a few years after the events of season 4. Therefore, although it is a few years into their College lives, there is no Dawn, Oz left, but returned and Riley is gone.

The timeline for Angel diverges from Season 1. Doyle is already dead, and Wesley and Gunn both work for Angel.

* * *

**Something Blue (The Second Wave)**

Fate is what life gives you, destiny is what you do with it.

-unknown

NOSTRADAMUS

_Born Michel de Nostredame on December 14, 1503, Nostradamus was the most celebrated physician and occultist of his day. Showing a great intellect from his early years, he studied a range of subjects including Latin, Greek, Mathematics and Celestial sciences. Later, his enthusiasm for the occult and his reputation for prophecy would stir the suspicions of the Inquisition, forcing Nostradamus to continually travel to evade the Church authorities._

_Fifty years in age, Nostradamus finally settled into semi-retirement in the town of Salon where he married and concentrated on his writings, producing annual almanacs and books of prophecy. He is said to have foreseen the rise and fall of Napoleon and Hitler, the assassination of the Kennedys, and perhaps the advent of the third World War. However, there is debate as to the volume of writings he produced and the interpretation of the works that have survived through the ages. Nostradamus himself mentions that he burnt many of his books once he finished them, but this seems unlikely given the profound dedication to his work over the course of his life. Rather, this was probably an attempt to mislead Church authorities and to potentially conceal important prophetic books for a later time when they would be truly useful, even vital, to a threatened humanity._

_One such book was said to have been found in Normandy, where Nostradamus wrote a final collection of prophecies for the next millennium, while his powers were at their height. The book was believed to have been lost or destroyed before his death in 1566. However in truth, it had been hidden until the time when the prophecies could serve as a weapon to battle the greatest threat the world has ever known: a stratagem of extraterrestrial invasion._

_Significantly, Nostradamus tells of an apocalyptic invasion coming in three terrifying waves: the first wave - an elite infiltrative and saboteur force, the second wave - invasion from above, and the third wave - Armageddon. He also foretells the coming of Earth's savior who will lead the fight against the aliens - the "twice-blessed man." This man may be Cade Foster. With Nostradamus' lost book of prophecy in his possession, Foster has the key to defeating the aliens. With the book, Foster may be humanity's only hope to stop the First Wave._

_Taken from the TV Show First Wave_

* * *

He caught her wrist just in time, preventing her from leaving the promised warmth of the bed and pulling her back into his arms. 

He wasn't letting her get away that easy. Pinning her down he gazed intently into her chocolate eyes.

"Just where did you think you were going?" he growled in mock anger, holding her squirming body to his naked chest, trapping her with his hands, yet loving her with his eyes.

She continued to squirm and giggle in his embrace as he began to place kisses all over her face, teasing her with the promise of more.

Liz sighed contentedly, the last two years of blissful happiness with Max had been like heaven, they were both making up for the three years they'd been separated when the FBI had kidnapped him.

Turning serious, Max stopped his teasing and instead held Liz in his arms, his lips inches from hers, his eyes sweeping every inch of her face as if committing it to memory.

They spoke very little about the years he had been held captive and the experimentation that he had endured.

He'd spent his first year back home catching up on the years of schooling he had missed, which fortunately for him had been easier than he would have thought, with the help of his family and friends as well as his alien genealogy he had progressed very quickly.

During that time he'd also married the love of his life, although the first to admit they were probably too young, he was now very much aware of how short life was, and that every opportunity that he could spend with Liz was worth lifetimes.

Although life was good, they had all lost their innocence, wary of all strangers, they had spent the last two years looking over their shoulders, fearing the return of the FBI whom they had seen no sign of since the rescue two years previous. In addition, they now had the added worry of enemies from a past life, enemies they did not remember, from a war fought on a faraway planet in another lifetime.

Still, they enjoyed each day and appreciated what little of a normal existence they did get to lead, and with no sign of either the FBI, or The Gua, they had began to hope that it was all far behind them, like vague recollections of a nightmare.

"I was going to get you breakfast, Mr. Evans" said Liz, answering his earlier question, smiling at the man she had almost lost.

"You're all the nourishment I need Mrs. Evans" his smile widened in uncharacteristic mischievousness as he began tickling her…after two years, he knew all of her weak spots and attacked them mercilessly.

She howled in laughter whilst trying to protect her body from his attack.

"No…Max!"

Giggling hysterically, she slapped his hands away in a feeble attempt to stop him.

"Max!"

* * *

Maria wasn't sure if she was amused or annoyed with Isabel's hysterics, her sister had proven to be quite a drama queen and had spent the last hour in an Oscar worthy performance. 

Sighing, she watched as Isabel ranted, switching between worrying over the preparations, and anger over things that had yet to even occur. She was a strange one.

"Calm down Izzy! I've already sorted out the flowers, Max is getting the rings, Liz is collecting the cake and your agitation is only going to give you a headache."

Yeah, great, give her something else to worry about, now she's going to convince herself that she has a migraine. Maria admonished herself.

"Speaking of my sister-in-law shouldn't she be here by now? Maybe I should astral-walk her?"

"Definitely not" argued Maria "if you recall, the last time you did that you caught them in a very uncompromising position."

"Arg, don't remind me." Shuddered Isabel. "That image has been burnt into my mind for all eternity. I washed my eyes out with soap for days afterwards."

After meeting Cade two years ago, Isabel had spent many hours practising her powers and developing them to the level she was at now, which included being able to project herself anywhere, anytime, instead of just in dreams.

Although the power was handy, it was limited, and only allowed her to project herself as incorporeal, her physical body never travelled with her. The only downside was that her friends and family found her new skill to be intrusive as on more than one occasion Isabel had appeared at very private and embarrassing moments.

With another sigh, Maria pulled out her trusty bottle of cyprus oil and took a hefty sniff. For a brief moment she contemplated offering Isabel a sniff of the calming aroma, then quickly dismissed her idea, remembering the look of disdain her sister had given her the last time she'd suggested one of her alternative therapies.

Isabel threw her hands up in the air "what made me think this was going to be fun?"

Funny, I was just thinking the same thing thought Maria wryly as her sister returned to pacing the room.

Now locking Izzy in a room with her crazy aunt Amy...that would be fun. Maria stifled a giggle at the picture her mind projected.

As was his nature, Alex chose this as the opportune moment to slip his head around the door, if she could have, Maria would have strangled her adoptive brother for the intrusion, because all manner of crap was about to hit the fan now and she was going to be left standing in the middle of it again.

He had no sense of timing, and she was going to be left picking up the pieces of an already crazy Isabel.

"Is she still moaning?" he asked, quirking an eyebrow at the antics of the room.

Isabel screamed and dashed behind the changing screen, Maria who was laughing got up off her chair to usher Alex, who was trying to get a peak of Isabel over her shoulder out.

"Get him out; get him right out of here now!" shrieked the bride-to-be.

"Just a little peek?" pleaded Alex, smiling charmingly at Maria as she gave him a stern look.

"You know it's bad luck to see her before the ceremony in her dress" reproached Maria before closing the door behind him and turning back to Isabel who was now furiously taking off her dress and climbing into a pair of jeans.

"Can you believe him?" demanded Isabel. She looked up from putting her tank top on and continued. "Is he trying to curse us or something? Does he want us to have bad luck for the rest of our lives?"

* * *

In his boxers, Max opened the door to find a smirking Michael. 

"Hey Max…nice outfit Liz."

Confused Max looked over his should to find Liz standing behind him wearing only a…sheet.

He turned back to Michael who was now grinning and frowned, "what is it Michael?" he asked impatiently.

Michael pushed his way inside and made his way to the kitchen where he immediately grabbed an apple out of the fruit bowl and took a bite out of it, the whole while still grinning at Max who had followed him.

"Did you forget we have to get the rings?" he asked in feigned disappointment at Max's forgetfulness.

Max felt his irritation rising "rings?" his confused mind tried to decipher what Michael was talking about, it took him a few seconds to delete the image of his wife standing in full view of Michael in a sheet before he could remember that it was his sisters wedding day and he had been tasked along with Michael to collect the rings from the jeweller "Oh, uh, yeah. Just let me throw some clothes on."

Liz walked into the kitchen, newly dressed in jeans and a sweater. She made her way over to Michael and gave him a hug.

Max felt a stab of jealousy when he saw them, not from the hug, nor from the close friendship, but because of the painful reminder that they shared a life together – as friends, but nevertheless, a life he'd missed out on.

Liz then made her way to Max and gave him a quick kiss before picking up her car keys.

"I'm going to pick up the cake and then I'll meet you boys at the church."

Max nodded, following her to the door and giving her another kiss, before returning to his room to get changed.

* * *

Jim Valenti shuffled through the paperwork on his desk wasting time until he had to leave for the church. 

With his son in his own apartment now, he was left with little to do at home and found himself spending more and more time at his office.

He was almost relieved when his phone began to ring, picking it up he answered "Valenti"

"Jim, how's it going down there?"

The Sheriff chuckled, very pleased to hear the voice on the other end of the line "Foster! It's been awhile!"

"Yes it has" there was a pause as Cade seemed to struggle with what he had to say "the reason I'm calling is to let you know that I'll be returning to Roswell…today."

"Oh yeah, you coming for the wedding?"

"Wedding? You mean Alex and Isabel?"

"It's today" Jim prompted, beginning to feel apprehensive with the call from a man he had not heard from in months.

"Actually I forgot, and I probably won't be there in time, I'm coming for other reasons" admitted the twice blessed man.

"Would that be Czechoslovakian reasons?" asked Jim, using the term that Maria and Liz had come up with a year ago when referring to anything alien related in public places.

"It's happening Jim."

The Sheriff felt himself go cold "what is?" He asked, already knowing the answer, but hoping he was wrong.

"The Second Wave!"


	2. Second Wave

**First Wave: "Destiny is what you do with it..."**

* * *

Disclaimer: See chapter 1

Expect trouble as an inevitable part of life and when it comes, hold your head high, look it squarely in the eye, and say, "I will be bigger than you. You cannot defeat me."

-(Not sure who the author is)

* * *

She had never felt the complete an utter exhaustion that she did at that moment, it was like she had run a marathon, then, after not sleeping for two weeks, run another marathon.

"I give up!" she declared "you try calming her down."

Liz smiled at Maria in sympathy, before turning her attention to Isabel. She had arrived not ten minutes earlier to find a weary Maria trying to calm Isabel down, apparently Alex had seen her in her dress or something "Isabel everything's fine, the cake is already in the hall, Max has the rings, the flowers are perfect…everything is perfect…you're perfect, this wedding is perfect."

"I know, I just keep worrying that something is going to go wrong, or that Alex will change his mind" admitted the alien princess, formally known as the Ice Queen, which seemed a strange description of the frantic girl who was standing in front of her.

"Hrmph! You'd have to drag Alex out of here kicking and screaming to keep him from marrying you" grumbled Maria good naturedly.

"I still think it's so romantic that he changed his surname back to Whitman so that you could have his family name" said Liz, knowing that it would calm the harried woman down.

When Maria and Alex had been hiding from an exploitive foster father, who had discovered her abilities, they had changed their surname to DeLuca, a surname that Maria had chosen to keep. Whitman, had never been her real surname anyway, although she had loved Alex's family as if they had been her own parents, she had grieved as much as he had when they'd died in the fatal accident caused by her former foster father.

Alex had finally decided that he was tired of running, and hiding who he was, and more importantly, he wanted to have children who would one day carry on his family name, not the fake one they had used the last couple of years.

Isabel sighed dreamily "he is sweet isn't he?"

Liz and Maria didn't know whether to laugh or scream at Isabel's change in mood.

"Hey what are you two just standing there for? Get dressed! On the double!" announced Isabel, already in a flurry of activity after her mood change.

Both Liz and Maria moved to put on their satin ice blue figure hugging gowns, the dresses that Isabel had chosen for her bridesmaids.

Isabel, who was already back in her gown, began placing small daisy's in her upswept hair.

After contemplating her appearance, Isabel waved her hand over her face and changed her eye color to a more subtle shade of blue.

With that done, she continued to study her appearance in the mirror. With a wry smile she recalled that on many occasions people had commented on how she took after her mother in physical appearance. It never failed to amuse either her or Diane as any resemblances were purely coincidental.

The two bridesmaids got caught up in their preparations and didn't notice when the soon-to-be-bride began to down spiral again, so both found themselves surprised when Isabel spoke.

"I wish my mom could be here."

Maria's smile fell as she quickly made her way over to her sister to offer support in the way of a hug.

"This is supposed to be the happiest day of your life, you can't think about that now, and you definitely can't cry 'cause it will ruin your make-up." She grinned, trying to get a laugh out of Isabel.

Maria gave Liz a look of desperation, although she was Isabel's sister, they had only known each other for a little over two years, and she wasn't sure if she was qualified in the sisterly area to deal with this situation. Liz gave her a supportive look, nodding for her to continue.

"You know what I think? I think your mom is watching over you right now, and I think that she's the happiest that she's ever been."

Isabel smiled at the picture Maria had just painted for her; a solitary, unbidden tear ran down her cheek. "yeah, I think maybe you're right."

Liz handed her a tissue, before reaching over to give her a hug. Before she could pull away, Maria joined them, and that was how the three girls sat until Max came to get them.

* * *

Alex wiped his sweaty palms on his pants and continued to look down the isle for any sign of Isabel.

"Chill man, trust me when I say she's not gonna let you off the hook that easily" smirked Michael.

Alex nodded distractedly, his attention on the entrance, looking for any sign of his own sweet Angel.

Instead of the traditional wedding march, Isabel had elicited to have the Shania Twain song 'From this moment' sung by a choir.

He felt his heart flutter as the music began, indicating the start of the ceremony and the imminent arrival of his bride.

I do swear that I'll always be there.  
I'd give anything and everything and I will always care.  
Through weakness and strength, happiness and sorrow, for better, for worse.  
I will love you with every beat of my heart.

From this moment life has begun

From this moment you are the one

Right beside you is where I belong

From this moment on.

Alex watched as Liz, followed by Maria came down the isle, and then the room seemed to light up with a bright glow, his features twisted into a smile of utter love and devotion as his one and only love entered the room, everything else faded as he focused on her.

From this moment I have been blessed

I live only for your happiness

And for your love I'd give my last breath

From this moment on.

With a loving kiss goodbye, Max handed his sister over to Alex "she's yours now, take care of her."

I give my hand to you with all my heart

Can't wait to live my life with, can't wait to start

You and I will never be apart

My dreams come true because of you.

Isabel had been in such a euphoric daze that she was surprised to find that the time had come to exchange rings, which they did quickly. Alex lifted the veil and placed his lips gently on hers just as the church erupted into applause and cheers. Isabel broke away from the kiss and smiled, Alex returned the smile and together they turned to face their guests, making their way out of the church as they'd done so many times during rehearsals, only this time it was as husband and wife.

With a shared look of live, Max and Liz joined hands behind the newlyweds and followed them down the aisle leaving an uncomfortable Michael and Maria to follow.

With a forced smile, Maria linked hands with Michael. The two had been dating for almost two years, although most of the time had been spent arguing with each other with the occasional spectacular break up row for spice. Currently the relationship was on hold, neither wanted to officially break up, but neither willing to be the one to apologise for the latest argument. Both believed the other to be at fault.

If Maria had been forced to be honest, she would admit that she couldn't remember the reason for the latest fight, but she would be adamant that whatever the reason, Michael was the cause, so for both of their sanity she had moved out of his apartment and into her own, believing the separation was what they both needed at this time. Also, she hoped her absence would bring Michael to his senses and that he would eventually cave and beg her forgiveness for being a 'big fat alien jerk'.

"Dammit Maria, could you quit squeezing my hand so hard, it hurts!" Growled Michael, sending his girlfriend a disgruntled look.

"Let's make a deal" hissed Maria "you grow up and admit you're a jerk, and I'll stop squeezing your hand too hard you big baby!"

With a sigh, Michael pulled his hand out of Maria's death grip and massaged it.

* * *

Isabel wrapped her arms around Alex and pressed her body to his as they swayed to the music. She had to keep reminding herself that this wasn't a dream, and that she was in fact Mrs. Alexander Whitman, she sighed in contentment.

"How soon do you think we can make our escape?" She whispered into Alex's ear.

"So impatient to get me into bed Mrs Whitman?" He teased.

With one look, Isabel's eyes conveyed all that she was impatient to do with her husband as soon as they were alone.

Alex felt his body flush at the intensity of her look "you take the front door, I'll make for the bathroom and climb out of the window" he said, feeling the very impatience for 'alone time' that he had accused Isabel of being. "It'll be ten minutes before anyone knows we have gone."

Isabel giggled at the urgent look on her husbands face, before pulling him closer, completely at peace with the outcome of her life. Things were good!

Looking over her husband's shoulder she saw Cade Foster talking to the Sheriff near the doors of the hall they'd rented for the reception. This can't be good she thought to herself as she pulled away from Alex and pointed out the men. "Somehow I don't think he's here for the wedding."

Maria who'd been watching her sister and adoptive brother, now brother-in-law dance, turned around to see what had disrupted their romantic moment together. By this time, Mr. Evans had joined Cade and the Sheriff.

"Uh Oh" she sighed "happy time is over".

"What?" questioned Michael, forever at a loss to what Maria babbled about, this time being no exception.

"Well it looks like our few years of peace are over and war is about to hit us again."

She pointed out the small group now huddled in the corner of the hall.

"I'm going to find Max and Liz; you go and see what's going on" said Michael, instinctively knowing that something was up. "I seriously doubt he's here for the wedding."

Maria nodded; before walking over to join the group, which had now grown to include Alex and Isabel.

Cade addressed the group. "Can we all meet somewhere quiet, I don't think this is the place to discuss what I've come here to say."

* * *

ONE HOUR LATER AT THE CRASHDOWN

"I can't believe that it was only two years ago that your dad gave me a job here to help pay the bills when Alex and I first came to Roswell" said Maria as she helped Liz pour the drinks. "It seems like a lifetime ago."

"A lot has happened since then" agreed Liz.

"Not that I'm not grateful for the well timed job, I can't tell you how happy I am that I don't have to wear that god-awful uniform. It was an insult to my heritage"

Liz giggled "Imagine my embarrassment when I first started dating your brother."

"So you sure there is no chance your parents will walk in on this impromptu meeting?"

"They seemed to be having too much fun at the reception, I doubt they'll be back for at least another hour or two."

"I hope you are right, I can't imagine having to explain this one to the parentals."

"Yeah, me too" agreed Liz.

Seated at one of the booths across the room, Cade addressed the wedding couple.

"Alex, Isabel, I'm really sorry to ruin what is meant to be a special occasion for you, I just didn't think this could wait any longer" began Cade, his tone conveying his deep regret at the interruption of the couple's happy day.

"Hey, it's not your fault; you're just the messenger of what is obviously bad news" replied Alex.

"So what is it that brings you here?" Asked Max, ever the vigilant leader.

Cade held off his answer until Liz and Maria had finished handing out drinks to all those present, once they had seated themselves he began.

"From what I have deciphered from the quatrains, it looks like the Second Wave is about to hit us full force."

Isabel frowned in confusion "I thought you said the Second Wave would never happen, could never happen, unless the four of us were dead?"

After Max had been rescued, Cade had sat down with the four of them and had explained all that he had discovered from the Quatrains of Nostradamus, including the fact that whatever planet the King inhabited could not be destroyed because his essence protected it. That, however, did not stop the Gua from trying and they were very capable of doing major damage without destroying the planet.

The First Wave included experimentation of planets inhabitants, similar to what had been done to Cade and his wife.

The Second Wave, which had yet to begin, was the destruction of Earth's leaders, so that chaos reigned, allowing them the opportunity to take over as Earths Leaders. Invasion from above.

Fortunately for Earth, this could not be done without killing it's protectors, who Nostradamus had named as the Royal Four.

Nostradamus said that Earth's only hope was the Twice Blessed Man, and he was right, in that if not for Cade, the four aliens would know nothing about the war or their part in it. Cade was their guide, and the only one among them with any experience is thwarting the Gua.

If the Gua were lucky enough to kill them, they would be able to move past the Second Wave quickly and straight into the Third Wave as the Earth would no longer be protected by the King.

Cade looked at Isabel, worry etched into his face, as realization dawned she could feel the strength ebb from her body and she was grateful when Alex put an arm around her.

"So all we have to do is keep them from dying..right?" Asked Liz, her worry also evident, although a little more hidden.

"I don't know if it's going to be that easy, we have no idea how it's going to come about, or what to expect" answered the Twice Blessed Man. "Even if we do manage to keep you alive, it won't stop them from beginning the Second Wave."

Max eyed the weary group and made a quick decision "The only thing we can do is make sure we're prepared for anything. So I suggest we all get a good night sleep, and meet back at my place tomorrow to come up with a plan."

* * *

SUNNYDALE CEMETARY

The lone woman stalked her prey…the hunting ground…a cemetery. She cursed as her prey swerved, almost causing her to run into a tombstone, luckily her reflexes were quicker than that of a normal person.

She jumped the headstone and landed on the vampire, shoving her wooden stake smoothly into his heart. He exploded into dust, his scream of anger cut short as he disappeared.

She dusted herself off and looked around for any other vampires

Looking around she tried to find the remaining vampire "Hello? Mr Vampire…Slayer blood here, just waiting for you to taste!" She taunted, knowing without a doubt that her blood was an irresistible temptation to anything un-dead. It was like their mission in life to kill her…in fact, every time she came across one it was like a repeat performance of "I'm gonna kill you."

Her spider senses tingled, or what she at least referred to as spider sense, giving her ample warning to turn around and send a stake through the heart of the vampire creeping up behind her.

Shaking the dust off her arm, she decided she'd had enough of patrolling. Before heading back to her small apartment she made her way to her ex-watchers house, he'd left a message for her to meet him there after patrolling.

He opened the door, looking flustered and tired.

"Ah good Buffy, everyone's been waiting"

"Everyone? You mean it's a party…for me? How sweet" she quipped.

Giles ignored the sarcastic banter, he had learned long ago how to tune out when the children got into this mood. Instead he led her through to his small living room.

Xander came through with a cookie in each hand "The Scooby Gang is ready and awaiting further orders" he mock saluted, still holding the cookie. It was obvious he was relishing the midnight meeting, since the end of high school he had found himself in endless jobs, searching for his little place in the world and feeling more and more like a redundant member of the group.

Giles sat down on one of his sofa's and began his explanation for the late night meeting "About a month ago I received a shipment of books, ancient scrolls and such from an acquaintance in England, since I no longer have the resources of the Council I am forced to look elsewhere for the archaic texts we require."

"Is there a point to this, or are we all here to discuss the boredom that is life after Sunnydale High?" Questioned Xander, receiving nods of agreement from the rest of the Scoobies.

"Right, never mind. I was reading up on some er….stuff and that's when I came across the prophecy…"

Buffy interrupted "No wait let me guess, we are yet again facing the end of the world and we're all in danger."

"Yes as a matter of fact…" he paused to give his charge a long suffering look before continuing "In any case, it mentions nothing of demons, so we have some unknown entity involved, something very dangerous…of apocalypse proportions."

"Could it be a new type of demon or something, or a very old one, like before the written word or…"

Giles interrupted, knowing the young wiccan could pursue the line of thought for quite some time. "I couldn't actually make out the whole uh...uh prophecy, b-but I don't think so."

"Well that's informative, I'm glad you called me out at midnight to discuss…this" snarked Buffy good naturedly.

Giles gave Buffy another look of impatience, before picking up a very old and badly preserved scroll and began to read, "…and after that will come the Second Wave, it will be an invasion from above…" he placed the scroll back on the table before continuing, "the details are sketchy at best, but the prophesy is clear, if this invasion from above succeeds, it will bring about Armageddon."

"There's more. I got a call from Angel…" continued the Watcher.

"Angel?" repeated Buffy, her heart thumping in her chest at the thought of her former vampire lover.

Xander frowned, he had little time for anything 'Angel' related "What did dead boy want?"

Willow glanced at Buffy, a worried look on her face, knowing the pain of separation even after a couple of years was still strong in the deceptively frail looking Slayer.

"It's okay Will, I'm fine. So what did Angel want?"

"Apparently there is a lot of unusual activity going on in a town in New Mexico, and it all seems to tie in with the prophecy" answered Giles "Angel has some contacts in a spiritualist group, they trace and track any type of psychic energy, they've been picking up on large quantities of psychic vibrations from this town for some time. Until now, they were not concerned as most people have some small amount of psychic ability, recently however, these vibrations have increased, far beyond the natural abilities of most people. They believe that it's about to reach its crescent and when it does…it will bring the end of the world with it."

"Okay, nothing we haven't faced before. So, what, is there like another hellmouth there or what?" asked Xander, pretending to be less worried than he felt.

"Not that I know of, but it's not entirely improbable. What is strange is that from what I have been able to translate, the scroll was originally transcribed from a lost book of prophesies in the sixteenth century made by Nostradamus. The author of the scroll refers to Nostradamus as an Old one."

"I thought all of this end of the world stuff happened around hellmouths?" Questioned the usually quiet Oz.

"That's actually a common misconception, although most apocalypse's are experienced in and around places of strong mystical energy, such as a hellmouth, they can in fact occur anywhere. Although many conspiracy theorists believe that Roswell is a place of mystical energy…which led to Aliens visiting it in the late forties" answered Giles.

"Come on Giles…Aliens?" Smirked Buffy, giving her watcher a disapproving look.

"Yes, well…we can't rule anything out, including…little green men" he smiled mischievously at his ward.

"Was that a joke out of the mouth of our very own british up-tight?" teased Xander.

Buffy giggled, before turning serious "So I guess I'm going to New Mexico?"

"Not alone you're not, like I said previously, this is the unknown you're going into; you're going to need all of our help" intoned the watcher.

"Okay, not that i'm ungrateful for the support or anything, but in-case you've forgotten, we have a hellmouth of our own that will be sitting here unprotected whilst we're all touring around New Mexico."

Giles removed his glasses from his face and began cleaning them, a sign that Buffy was probably not going to like whatever it was that he had to say.

"That's why Faith is currently on her way here."

"Are you insane?" Exclaimed Xander. "Your plan is to protect the Hellmouth with a supernaturally strong psycho killer?"

"I'm with Xander on this one" agreed Willow.

"Whilst I share your doubts, I do believe that Faith is making a concerted effort to reform herself, and Angel believes that she is more than capable of handling the Hellmouth whilst we are away."

Xander snorted in disgust, "well if the psycho killer dead guy thinks that the psycho killer Slayer is reformed, then I guess that's okay" said Xander, obviously still believing Giles to be mad, whilst Willow looked to Buffy for her opinion.

"You're the only one whose seen her since...since she got out."

"We can trust her" Buffy replied firmly.  
She may not like Faith, but she'd seen enough to know that the girl was sincere in her quest for redemption, and, after all was said and done, Faith was her sister Slayer. The only other girl in the whole world who knew what it meant to be the 'One girl in all the world with the strength and ability to fight the forces of darkness'.

"Okay, but if she kills anyone I get first dibs on 'I told you so'." Informed Xander.

"So...New Mexico?" Said Oz, drawing the conversation back to the task at hand.

"Road trip" sang Xander, excited about the impending adventure "or is it air trip? How far is this place exactly?"

The group of demon fighters began making travelling plans and arrangements to take leave from their respective jobs/schools.

* * *

Gaiea watched the interaction of the scoobies from across the road, her heightened senses allowed her to follow the conversation without having to be in the room.

Obviously her mind insertion had worked.

She'd been waiting patiently for the past couple of years for the Watcher and the Slayer to discover on their own their connection to Roswell and the Royal Four.

Unfortunately things were progressing much faster than she had anticipated in Roswell and she could no longer wait for the Sunnydalians to come across the information on their own, so she had, had to take things into her own hands and insert into the British mans mind a slight control, pushing him to read the prophesy that would invariably lead him to Roswell.

Fortunately it had worked, as they were now making plans to visit the infamous town.

Fortunately too, her slight control over the spiritual group had given her access to the souled vampire as he too would be needed in the fight to come.

Although the Mind Insert had worked, Gaiea was not happy. She should not have had to interfere in the path of the Slayer, her job was that of an observer, allowing them to take their own paths, interfering only if there was little other option available.

This had been one of those occasions.

Apparently the watcher was not as wise as his ancestors had been, otherwise she would not have had to interfere at all. This gave her cause for concern, the part of the Watcher in this pre-ordained destiny was integral, she hoped he would be able to live up to it.

Shaking her head solemnly Gaiea reminded herself that she'd had little faith in the Royal Four ever finding each other, but, after the dream-vision she'd sent them about the Pod Chamber, they'd done very well and had proven themselves worthy of their titles. Perhaps she shouldn't be so hasty in her opinion of the watcher.

Glancing at the other occupants in the room, Gaiea consoled herself with the fact that if the Watcher was unable to complete his part in this pre-ordained destiny, that there was another among the group who had the potential.

Holding her palm out, Gaiea whispered a few words in her native tongue. As she spoke, a small golden ball formed in her palm.

Drawing in a breath, she blew on the golden light and sent it into the only other person in the room capable of taking over if the Watcher failed.

She hoped however that he did not for she did not think the other would be ready in time should the Watcher not do his part.

With a final sigh she turned away, she had played her part and set the Destiny's in motion. Let fate handle the rest.


	3. Children of the Moons

**First Wave: "Destiny is what you do with it..."**

* * *

Disclaimer: See chapter 1

War does not determine who is right, only who is left.

-Bertrand Russell

* * *

After another meeting at Max's house, Isabel had decided to return home and resume the unpacking of boxes, something that had been sorely neglected since the fiasco that was her wedding.

Alex was out with Max and Michael as they surveyed the town and came up with a patrol roster. Max had suggested they take turns patrolling the town, so they'd know right away if new people, specifically Gua came into town.

She lifted a box marked 'stuff' not recognizing it she assumed it was collectables from her childhood days.

Deciding that she need something to cheer her up after the recent news from Cade she began opening it, anticipating old photo albums and mementos from her high school years.

Gasping in surprise, she pulled out what looked like a book from the box and ran her fingers over the engravings, her mind wandered back to five years previously when they'd first found it in the cave. With all that had happened since then she'd totally forgotten about it.

It was the same day that they had re-discovered the Pod Chamber and the same week that Max had been kidnapped.

Isabel blinked away the tears the memories had brought on and picked up the phone.

* * *

The last person to arrive was Michael, once he'd sat down Isabel brought out the book, which brought gasps from Max, Liz and Michael and confused glances from Alex, Maria, the Sheriff, her father and Cade.

Max eyes wandered over the engravings on the book "I'd totally forgotten about it."

Sharing a look of confusion with Maria, Alex asked "What is it?"

Isabel sat down next to her husband so that he could get a closer look "It's a book we think, anyway we found it years ago when we found the pod chamber, with all that has happened I guess we just forgot about it."

Leaning over her sisters shoulder Maria scrutinised what looked exactly like your run of the mill book, if you discounted the strange metal it appeared to be made out of and the alien looking symbols decorating the cover of it "what are all those symbols on it?"

"It says, 'The power of four must be united in stead, only then, can the destinies be read'" answered Isabel, remembering with a shiver how the book had seemed to take control of her in the chamber. It had almost felt as if it were alive and had just used her as a conduit to translate the cover message.

"So it has our destinies inside?" Asked Maria.

"Yeah, we've never been able to open it because when we found it there was only us three, and we needed all four of us."

The Sheriff was excited at the prospect of some new discovery, especially because he had missed the whole dream-walk episode that had been used to discover Max's whereabouts two years ago. "Well everyone is here, why doesn't it open?"

Liz, who had been sitting quietly up until then, offered an explanation, which everyone listened to. She had proven in the past to be quite adept with her theories and suggestions, so no one doubted that as simple as it sounded, her idea might in fact work.

"It's probably engineered to recognise your DNA, so maybe if you all tried touching it at the same time, it would be like the key turning in the lock?"

The four Aliens got up and stood in a tight circle around the book Isabel held out, hesitantly they placed their hands on it and immediately it began to glow.

Everyone in the room closed their eyes as the glow intensified, threatening blindness if they continued to look directly at it.

For what felt like hours, but in reality was only minutes they all kept their eyes tightly shut as the book continued to glow.

After a while a humming sound began to emit from the book and then there was silence.

When they opened their eyes again, the glowing had subsided to a faint light and the book was opening. They pulled their hands away and stepped back as Isabel placed the book on the coffee table and also stepped back.

Instead of opening to a book full of pages as they'd expected, a bright tunnel of light shot out from the book 'causing the aliens to step back further in fright.

A voice started to speak through the light.

"Welcome my children of the Moons, the leaders of Antar. You are special and you have a destiny to fulfil, you are not Antarian, nor are you human, you are instead a blend of both, your powers are immense, and for that reason you had to flee your land to seek refuge whilst your powers grew, so that one day you would free us from the evil that plagues us.

We await you my children, our leaders. Your essence is powerful, and if you were to be killed, so would the people of your chosen planet, our enemies know this, and for that reason will hunt you until you destroy them.

Find the Orb of Antar, and the Granilith, they will assist you in destroying our enemies and then you will reign again. This message is the key."

There was a brief pause in which the inhabitants of the room believed that the 'Light Voice' had completed her cryptic message.

"In every Life-Cycle there is a chosen one, one who will have the power of many, one who is known as the warrior and the protector of freedom.

There will come a time when peace will be destroyed as a great war immerses, but an even greater king will be born."

A holographic image of Max was shown.

"He is special and holds within him the power to protect his planet, and it is for this reason that it has been pre-ordained that in this year two chosen ones will be born."

A holographic image of Michael, followed by Maria was shown.

"She, the descendant of all Chosen Ones, will posses the gifts to fight our enemies." The image of Maria glowed briefly.

"He, the first of his line, created by the Old Ones will stand alongside the King, his purpose to protect the King and the Essence that belongs to the King." The image of Michael glowed before disappearing.

"Together they must join to save our planet from destruction. In this year, one more will be born, she will be known as the Visioner for her people. Her visions will be prophetic, and help to keep those that she protects safe."

This time a picture of Isabel appeared.

"You are our last hope, so to aid in your mission, we have sent with you the tools required to assist you. Use the Orb of Antar and the Granilith to aid you, but beware their power as your enemies will stop at nothing to attain them for themselves."

The light started to diminish and the voice faded as the last words were said.

"The time grows short and soon darkness will prevail…unless you, the children of the moons come forth and shine your light."

The light disappeared back into the book, which abruptly closed, leaving the room in silence.

A short while later…

Michael paced the room as thoughts ran through his head like a ten ton truck "you know what this means?" He asked in mid-stride as turned to face the occupants of the room.

Attempting to ease the tension Alex answered, "yeah, if you ever doubted this planets version of your destiny, you now have one from your planet to verify it."

Ignoring Alex, Michael continued, "It means that not only do we have the fate of this planet resting on us, but now also the fate of our own planet. And just what the hell is the Orb of Antar and a Granilith, where would we find them and what are they supposed to do?"

* * *

PART TWO: WHEN TWO WORLDS COLLIDE

Maria and Michael had the patrol shift for that night; Alex had given them the headset's to wear so that if anything happened they could call for back-up.

It had been two weeks since Cade had arrived back in town and nothing had happened yet, Maria didn't know if she was relieved or nervous by that fact.

Feeling frustrated at the limbo their life had become, Maria suggested "let's swing by the motels again, maybe we'll get lucky and see some new arrivals in town."

Michael nodded and turned the car in the direction of the first motel, occasionally glancing at Maria as if he were struggling with something he had to say. Whatever it was, he chose not to say it, remaining quiet instead as they patrolled the quiet streets of Roswell.

They were passing the third motel when they saw a group of people climbing into two cars and heading towards town. Michael immediately swung the car around and began following, ignoring Maria's insults about his driving skills.

Michael bit back his scathing reply, knowing full well it would do no good and would in fact cause more screeching insults from Maria.

Instead, he narrowed his eyes and eased down on the gas, and followed the two cars that had just pulled out of the Motel.

* * *

It had been a long day filled with travelling and hiding in airport toilet stalls to avoid sunlight, so he was by no means in an accommodating mood, so when he noticed the car following them he felt his annoyance rise up another notch, and his hands clench into fists, begging for a little violence to calm his steaming nerves.

"We're being followed" he told the driver. Keeping his words to a minimum, not only because he rarely said anything unless there was a point to the conversation, but mostly because he knew that the driver still had a lot of resentment towards him and who knew what years of built up resentment could do to a person? It was best if he said very little to the man and made sure that he kept his distance as much as possible.

It was unfortunate that they had to travel in the same car, but he had needed to speak to Buffy about whatever it was they were up against, and she had chosen to travel with her Watcher, perhaps as a reminder for her as to why she had to keep her love for him locked away, never to be let out again, because she would put her Watcher and her friends in danger if she did.

Giles was intrigued by the warning from Angel, they'd been in town less than fifteen minutes and already it was apparent they'd stepped into something big. "Really? Are you positive?" He questioned, wondering exactly what it was that they were dealing with.

Looking over her shoulder past the car carrying her friends at the dark street behind them, Buffy nodded "yeah he's right."

"But with Oz's rental car behind us how can you tell?"

The vampire and Slayer looked at Giles as if he were hard of learning.

Catching on to Buffy's look from the rear view mirror, Giles nodded in embarrassment "oh right, preternatural powers and all that, so what should we do?"

"Pull over, Buffy and I will get out and hopefully lead them into a confrontation, you can go around the block and come back for back-up it we need it, but only if we need it. We don't yet know what we're up against, and until we do, it's best if all of you stay out of our way."

"He means that in the nicest way possible." Remarked Buffy with a pointed look at Angel.

"How else would I have meant it?" He asked her in confusion.

Shaking her head she decided not to try and explain to him that his social graces had not improved over the past couple of years.

There was one small grace however, at least Cordelia had not rubbed off on him – that would have been extremely disturbing.

Buffy shuddered at the thought.

Giles signalled a right turn and began slowing the vehicle down "I would suggest letting the others know, we don't want them trying to follow you too."

Just then Angels cell phone rang, fumbling with the mobile, he tried to locate the 'answer' button.

With a look of amusement, Buffy reached over and pressed the button for him.

"Yeah?" He answered.

Cordelia's voice came over the line "we're being followed, just who do these people think they are? I mean puh-leez, if they're not gonna do it right, then they shouldn't do it at all."

Apparently the seer's mood had not improved; she'd been in a tantrum after the last motel had turned out to be a dive, suitable only for the drug addicted and criminally insane. Since then, no one had been safe from her scathing remarks, another reason Angel was willing to endure time spent with a man whom he had tortured, after having killed his girlfriend. Yes, guilt he could deal with, Cordelia in a bad mood he could not.

Angel relayed to Cordelia their plan then switched off his phone just as Giles was pulling over to the curb. Angel and Buffy climbed out and waited for Giles to turn down the next street, followed closely by the car Oz was driving.

* * *

Buffy knew their stalkers were now on foot following them, they weren't very stealthy so it wasn't hard to figure that out.

It was ironic that the apocalypse was going to be brought about by these amateurs, it would certainly make her job easier though, not that she minded a good arch nemesis now and again, it added flavour to her otherwise stagnant life.

Buffy let her instincts take over as she tried to 'feel' the enemy "they're not vampires." She remarked to her silent companion.

Angel agreed, "they smell funny."

Buffy gave him a look filled with confusion and slight disgust at his comment.

"I mean in the non-human way" he elaborated at her look.

Glancing ahead she noticed an alley that would be perfect for their attack and pointed it out to Angel.

He nodded, understanding her intentions.

It was strange that after so many years apart that they could fit together so well, instinctively knowing what the other was thinking, and working together to achieve it.

It had once been said that together they were powerful, apart, they were nothing and Angel knew this to be true.

Whatever was between them, when it came down to it, they would always get the job done. When they fought their enemies side by side, it was always fluid and in-sync, as if they were two halves of one whole.

They walked into the alley, fists ready and waited for the non-humans to walk straight into their trap.

They didn't have to wait long.

Buffy pounced on the woman as she rounded the corner, unfortunately the punch didn't land, as the woman had almost-lightening fast reflexes, which confirmed their theory about their pursuers being non-human because she was the only human with that kind of power.

--

* * *

Maria was surprised at the unexpected attack, up until this point they hadn't been sure if these people were Gua, but now it seemed their fears had been founded.

Pure instinct after many years of studying the art forms of defence and offence fighting she had managed to duck the first punch, but she was no fool, if that punch had landed she would probably be a puddle of jelly right now, cause there was no doubting the power behind the punch.

If they wanted to survive this, they were going to need all the help they could get. So she shouted into her mouthpiece, whilst dodging kicks and punches. "We're under attack, send back-up immediately."

--

At first Buffy thought that the demon was either crazy or telepathic when it started calling for help, then she noticed the hi-tech head gear it wore and began to wonder what type of demon they were up against.

Shrugging off the weirdness of it all, she decided to taunt it a little, hoping to trick it up "Oooh, don't think you can handle little ol' me?"

"Oh I'll take you and the rest of the Gua on, and I'll still win."

Okay, so either the demon had some type of lisp or else one of those funny diseases – what was it called….toilets? Where you couldn't always control what you were saying, as in this particular case where the demon seemed to think calling her a 'Gua' was going to scare her. Buffy was no Einstein, but she was pretty certain there was no such word in the English dictionary. Maybe it was a demon word or curse or something?

"Sticks and stones, Demon-Girl, they ain't gonna hurt me, but my foot is sure as hell going to cause you some major damage" with her warning said, her leg shot out and kicked the demon in the stomach, sending it hurtling towards the ground some feet away.

--

Maria lay winded on the ground, desperately trying to catch her breath and internally heal any wounds she may have gotten. Although she was no healer like Max, each of them had some small amount of each others powers, which is what she was utilising now to slow down any damage that may have been caused until her brother could do the major-mojo. Whilst doing so, she sent an urgent message to Michael in her mind. They're too strong. She warned. I know, don't fight them, use your powers he replied.

Maria waited until the woman was above her, pointing a sharp…stick at her chest? Apparently the Gua weren't as technologically advanced as they thought they were.

Using her energy she produced a ball of power, which she pushed out of her and at the direction of the woman, successfully sending the woman flying until she landed a few feet away.

"Get with the times weirdo, the human race has progressed way beyond sticks for weapons. What I don't get is that you can hurtle zillions of miles through space, but you can't think up any more affective weapons? Doesn't say much for your evolution, or chances in this war!"

**--**

Michael found himself becoming distracted in his own fight as Maria's thoughts were projected into his own head, he wasn't surprised when he couldn't understand a word she was thinking…when had he ever?

Fortunately, his opponent was also distracted by the sight of his Gua partner hurtling through the air.

"BUFFY!"

Michael took the opportunity that the distraction afforded him and used his powers to send the guy flying too.

Maria spoke into her headset again "Alex, we need back up…NOW!"

--

Angel groaned from his position on the dirty ground, turning his head slightly, he could see Buffy having trouble getting up "I think they're scared of us" he quipped.

Smiling through her pain as she tried to stand up, "sure, who wouldn't be?"

Both warriors paused when an image of a woman flickered to life in front of them, she studied them quietly before turning to face the Demons.

Neither Demon seemed surprised to see the incorporeal figure. Instead they addressed the ghost.

"Nice to see you Iz, but help of the corporeal kind would be much more…helpful" remarked the girl.

"It's on the way, I'm just assessing the situation. I can't hold the astral-walk for long, the power is still too new for me to control, just hang in there" before flickering out, the figure left one last warning "behind you!"

--

Xander came running into the ally and thrust a cross in Maria's face, hoping to get her to back off, whilst giving himself a mental pat on the back at his quick timing. No doubt the hell spawn was just about to finish off his best friend.

With his thoughts occupied on his prowess as a sidekick, he didn't notice when the vampire or demon or whatever weird creature it happened to be this day looked at him as if he were crazy.

--

These are some seriously disturbed Gua, they keep trying to kill me with wooden sticks, and wooden crucifixes she mentally projected to Michael.

Maria knocked the cross, with Xander still attached to the ground and turned around in enough time to have water thrown into her face by another Gua. She sent the woman flying too.

"What the crap is going on here?" She demanded.

She began to wonder if she had left normal reality and was now living through some weird nightmare, where people brandished crosses and sticks and threw water at each other.

From the other side of the alley Michael watched as a middle-aged man pointed a crossbow at him and shot off a bolt, concentrating his powers he managed to stop the bolt – inches from his heart. Looking up at the surprised man he smirked, before letting the bolt fall to the ground and preparing to take on the middle-aged crossbow wielding man, but before he could make a move he was knocked down from behind by his former opponent and another shorter red headed one.

Michael flipped back on his feet, using his power to add strength, he back handed the shorter guy and kicked the dark one simultaneously. The short one went flying, the dark one grunted, but remained in place.

--

Maria caught the piece of wood as it came flying towards her at an incredible speed, using her powers she turned the wood to sawdust, she then faced her opponent the blonde, before the blonde could reach her Maria used the air around her to form a buffer that sent the woman flying back again.

Distracted by her blonde opponent, Maria did not notice when a dark haired female Gua crept up behind her brandishing a stake.

With a gasp as her air left her lungs, Maria fell face first on to the ground, a stake sticking out of her back.


	4. Define Crazy

**First Wave: "Destiny is what you do with it..."**

Disclaimer: See chapter 1

AN: Apologies guys for the formatting problems – every time I upload a chapter, FFNet looses the formatting and I'm left with a mess.

Reviews Please….pretty please…

* * *

I think the surest sign that there is intelligent life out there in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us.

-Calvin & Hobbes

* * *

Cordelia stood over the body and pumped her fist in the air "Yeah! Normal girl saves the day again!" She shouted with glee, sending a pointed look at Buffy who was pulling herself up from the ground…again.

Seeing the woman still alive, Cordelia realized she had missed the heart and went forward to finish the job, before she could reach the woman though, a greenish barrier came up preventing her approach and sending her backwards to the ground.

With a surprised grunt, Cordelia looked up to see a dark haired and very angry man standing above the woman; apparently it was he who had produced the barrier. She watched as the man knelt beside the woman and removed the stake, he then placed his hand on the wound and produced a glowing halo around it. Cordelia was dumfounded as she watched the wound close up and the woman regain consciousness. The man then turned to look angrily and Cordelia, he was furious she could tell as she nervously began scuttling backwards.

"Hold it, all of you."

----------

Angel who was simultaneously trying to pick himself up off the ground as well as help Buffy up turned to see a Sheriff holding Willow at gunpoint.

Angel was confused as to why the police were helping out the demons of this town, but remained still as he contemplated what to do.

Max stepped forward** "**by now you should know Gua that you are no match for us, I suggest you leave, and forget about bringing forth the second wave, you will not succeed."

Buffy felt her fury rising at the sight of her friend being held captive "hey, enough with the name calling, what are you, five? And as for saving the world from you demons, trust me when I say you will not beat me – I've done this before, and I'll do it again, I am the slayer – the chosen one. You don't stand a chance."

"Hey, who's calling who names now, if anyone here has any relation to a demon it would be you freaks." Shouted Alex, still shaking from the sight of his sister lying prone on the ground a few seconds earlier.

"And just how stupid do you think we are? Next time when you try and pass yourself off as the chosen one, don't do it in front of the real chosen one, 'cause you're likely to be considered a liar. We are the chosen ones" shouted Maria as she pointed to Michael and herself.

Giles was incredulous "You're slayers? Both of you? B-but that's impossible. Are you their watcher?"

He asked the Sheriff who was still holding Willow. The Sheriff looked somewhat taken back as well as confused by the question.

Mentally Giles began to ascertain exactly how there could be four Slayers, which he supposed was not entirely improbable if you considered the fact that up until now there had been two Slayers, what he couldn't figure out though, was how one of them could be male.

"I'm not sure what you're implying by that, I'm a Sheriff; I uphold the law around these parts." Answered the Sheriff, obviously both insulted and confused by Giles question.

Now it was Giles's turn to look perplexed.

Max spoke up before the elderly man could say anything else that was weird "why exactly are you here? What is your plan for the second wave?"

"To stop you demons from bringing forth hell, or whatever it is you do for fun" answered Xander, equally as angry at the sight of his best friend being held captive by a demon lawman.

"What demons? Are all you people mad?" Shouted Michael, exasperated at the entire encounter,

"Well how else would you explain the balls of fire you weirdo's keep throwing around like confetti?" Accused Cordelia making sure she was well out of the range of the dark haired healer when she spoke.

The Roswell team slowly came to the conclusion that these people albeit weird, and very possibly crazy were not the Gua.

Buffy had come to a similar conclusion about the Roswellians, although she wasn't yet sure what they were because there was no doubt that they were not human…unless…maybe…witches? "If you're not demons, then why are you here?" She asked, trying to establish exactly what was going on.

"We live here" answered Max cautiously. Although he was now confident they weren't the Gua, there was still something strange going on here.

"And…you normally follow tourists around town?" Questioned Angel sarcastically.

Again, Max kept his answer to the bare minimum "no, but we've been expecting trouble, and besides, you don't exactly strike me as your the run of the mill tourist."

Ever the Watcher, Giles began to wonder if these people were here for the very same reason they were, to prevent the apocalypse. "What kind of trouble exactly?" He probed.

Max shrugged "the Second Wave, also known as the prequel to the end of the world."

Confused at the quick turn of events, Xander asked "so you're not demons?"

"Would you shut up already about demons!" Shouted Isabel.

"Just checking" replied Xander with a shrug, obviously not convinced.

Buffy shared a look of surprise with Angel as both finally noticed the blonde woman who had previously been a ghost, but was now quite obviously not.

"Could you let my friend go?" Buffy gestured to the Sheriff who was still holding Willow.

Max nodded, and the Sheriff let her loose.

Michael approached Max "Max! I don't think…"

Max shook his head, indicating that the decision was not up for discussion.

Buffy could tell that the spikey haired boy was not happy, but for now was remaining quiet. She found it strange that everyone, including the Sheriff deferred to this young boy, what exactly was going on here?

Willow who had now joined Oz asked "so what's with the fire throwing?" Her mind had already come to the same conclusion as Buffy, their powers were similar to that of a wiccan and she wondered if she were among fellow brethren.

"We can't trust them" whispered Michael, unaware that some of their opponents had superior hearing.

"How about a little faith here, you were the ones following us, remember?" Accused Buffy.

Michael paused, surprised that she had heard him "I'm not about to trust a bunch of lunatics who chase 'demons' for god only knows what reason."

Max's gaze never wavered from the Sunnydale group "I think we can trust them."

Isabel shook her head, remembering the sight of her sister with a stick sticking out of her back "Max no!"

Max turned his gaze on his sister "Please Izzy, at least trust my judgement in this."

Isabel nodded reluctantly, she trusted Max, because he had both proven himself more than capable and also because of something Cade had once said about Max having the ability to Mindscan. It was possible that Max was now drawing on this previously unused power without realising it.

Michael scowled but said nothing.

"We're not from around here" began Max, amazed at how many times in the past couple of years he had started his explanation with the same line, and wondering why he felt the need to explain his origins to them at all. Yet here he was, about to divulge his secret to a group of strangers…seriously disturbed strangers without a hint of doubt in his mind.

Maybe it had to do with a statement one of them had made about saving the world…maybe they too were here to stop the Gua.

If not, it wouldn't matter if they shouted his secret out to all who would hear as he doubted that anyone would be partial to their far fetched story, especially if it involved stories of demons.

Whatever the reason for his sudden case of trusting people, Max chose to follow his instinct and let them into the whole world of aliens.

"I thought you said you lived here?" Questioned Giles, beginning to wonder what these people were up to.

Xander broke in before anyone could answer "yeah, but originally they came from hell 'cause they're DEMONS!" He shouted, more than ever convinced that he was right on this one and hoping for some support from his friends.

Isabel rolled her eyes, but said nothing.

Max shook his head and pointed at the sky.

Xander scoffed "oh right, you expect me to believe you're Angels." He paused briefly before asking with uncertainty "are you?"

Isabel sighed, it was like they all had a one track mind, consisting solely of demons and their counterparts – angels.

Angel stared at Max, beginning to form a theory as to the events of the past half hour "he means they're from another planet."

Xander snickered "oh, so now who belongs on the funny farm?" He taunted, referring to Michael's earlier statement about them being lunatics.

Michael glared at Xander, deciding that he really disliked the boy "It's more believable than demons walking around."

"I think that's a matter of opinion" said Oz.

"And I think I just walked into the twilight zone, or perhaps the annual meeting of Roswell Lunatics…which one would you say it is…Dad?"

Shocked, the group from Roswell turned around to find Kyle Valenti standing at the entrance to the ally.

"Kyle! What are you doing here?"

"I dropped by to see how you were handling things alone, only to see you driving off with all the weird kids from my high school days, so I followed you dad, and now I'd like an explanation." He crossed his arms and waited.


	5. What's so great about Normal?

**First Wave: "destiny is what you do with it..."**

* * *

Disclaimer: See chapter 1

AN: Once again FFNet is screwing around with my formatting. Guess in future i'm gonna have to try the html route, and see if that works better. In the meantime here is the next chapter. A big thank you to my reviewer!

"The major lesson of life is that just when you think you've understood things, something happens to turn your understanding upside down."

– Stephen Fry

* * *

A half hour later found the two groups crammed into Max's house, trying to decide where to go from after all the earlier revelations and discoveries.

Isabel sat quietly at the dinning room table, convinced that Max had made a grave error in telling the demon-hunting weirdo's what they were. Glancing up from the hard wood table she noticed that the brunette – Cordelia was still staring at her, something she'd been doing for the past fifteen minutes.

Isabel felt her patience waning "What?" She demanded.

Cordelia took Isabel's question as an invitation to begin a barrage of questions that had been burning at her since she'd found out about the existence of aliens.

"I was just wondering how you keep your complexion, I mean in your real form you must have at least green blood or scales or something. And did you choose how you'd look as a human, 'cause that would be pretty handy, but why this form exactly, I mean, why not choose to look like Jennifer Aniston, that way you could take over her life, spend all of her money, and get Brad as a hubby? Also, you would be famous, which is really cool…and of all places, why on earth would aliens choose to live in Roswell?"

Cordelia inched closer to Isabel, studying her features. Isabel glared at her "yeah well if you don't stop staring at me, I'll turn you into a frog – we'll see how good that is for your complexion."

Cordelia immediately backed away.

Xander watched the entire confrontation with interest "hey cool, can you really do that?"

Isabel threw up her hands in frustration and stormed away from the table what was Max thinking when he let these crazies into his house?

Xander watched the Greek Goddess storm away, then turned his attention to the Sheriff and his son having a heated discussion on the other side of the room, his eyes then fell on the spikey haired alien who was glaring at him from the doorway. Man these people are freaky he thought to himself.

In another corner of the room Giles and Cade were talking. "So in a sense you are like a Watcher, I mean you do all the research and basically watch out for them. I must say, this is quite fascinating."

"Well yeah, I guess you could put it that way" replied Cade, still confused as to exactly what a Watcher was, and why this man was so fixated on the subject. Deciding that he didn't really want to know, he chose to agree to whatever the man said.

------------------------------

Meanwhile, Isabel had by this point joined Willow, Oz, Buffy, Angel, Max, Liz, Alex and Maria in the kitchen, Xander, nervous under Michaels glare also joined them, but to his consternation the freaky alien followed him.

Alex was talking "let's just say for one bizarre, screwed-up universe minute there were such things as vampires, how would we know that you people aren't a gang of thirsty blood suckers?"

Finding the question very amusing, Xander erupted into laughter. "Like to see you explain that one dead boy."

Buffy and Willow glared at him.

"What does he mean by that?" Questioned Max.

"Uh…it's complicated, maybe before we begin with explanations we should gather everyone around?"

Giggling to himself, Xander went in search of anyone not already gathered in the kitchen.

Liz looked at Max this is getting weirder by the second something's definitely up he agreed telepathically.

Everyone reconvened in the kitchen a minute later.

When nobody spoke up, Xander began "So G-man…"

This earned him another glare.

"…the ET's…"

More glares.

"want to know if any of us grow teeth?"

He wiggled his eyebrows and used his fingers to imitate teeth.

Giles looked at Xander with a mixture of annoyance and confusion "Xander, as usual, I have no bloody idea what you are referring to."

Tired of the entire situation, Angel interrupted "I'm a vampire."

Taking a step backwards, Alex questioned "I thought you people hunted vampires?"

Willow nodded "we do, except for Angel, he's a good vampire, he even has a soul" she hurriedly explained, hoping to dispel any pandemonium that might ensue from the revelation.

"You people are just one big walking contradiction" accused Michael.

"Hey! Why don't you go and phone home or something Alien boy" suggested Xander.

"And why don't you bite me…oops, that would be your job wouldn't it" responded Michael, sending a pointed look in Angel's direction.

Buffy spluttered "okay, hang on just a minute, Angel has probably more humanness and compassion in his pinkie finger than you could ever even imagine." She pointed a finger at Michael. "Actually, I'm not far off the mark there am I 'cause you're not even human!" She accused.

Giles held his hands up in the air and attempted to get everyone's attention "all right everyone hold up, I think we're all just a little out of sorts with everything that's happened tonight."

"No, you people have no idea what feeling out of sorts is like, I am now at this moment surrounded by Vampires, Demon Hunters and Aliens, who knows what else is in this room. Does any one else have any secrets they want to share? Because now would be the time." Demanded Kyle.

Everyone remained silent.

"Ugh, fine, if no one else is gonna step up and be the big man, then I guess I will" accused Cordelia as she eyed her companions.

Pointing at Angel she said "Vampire with a soul, he won't eat you unless you annoy him."

At the looks from her friends, Cordelia amended "fine…like any of you were willing to be honest…Angel won't hurt you…even if you do annoy him. But I would strongly suggest you don't make him happy."

Pointing at Buffy she said "Slayer, as in freakishly strong, zero fashion sense and the responsibility of hunting and killing anything hellmouthy, which covers about most things that are evil, as in Vampires, demons, bug teachers…"

Xander narrowed his eyes in the direction of his ex-girlfriend as she continued her 'moment of honesty'…possibly her last moment at all if she continued on this path.

"Oh, to clarify…the hellmouth is the mouth to hell, literally, and can be located at what was once our school library but is now a mound of rubble because Buffy blew it up."

At this point everyone in the room began to talk.

"Not finished!" Shouted Cordelia, loving the whole 'centre of attention' bit she was getting.

Pointing at Xander, she said "human…deadbeat…annoying!"

Before Xander could protest, she continued "Oz is a werewolf, so long as it's not 'that time of the month' you're safe."

Pointing at Willow, she continued "Wicca or Witch, whatever you prefer, good with a computer, has a gay version of herself that is also a vampire in another dimension."

Looking around, Cordelia concluded that she had covered everyone except Giles "He's a Watcher, his job is to Watch Buffy…that about covers it."

The Scooby gang remained quiet, all either too furious or too shocked by her statements to say anything.

The group from Roswell were equally as quiet, digesting the outrageous information she had bombarded them with, none daring to ask for an elaboration on her statements, especially about Giles 'Watching' Buffy for a living.

Clearing his throat, Xander said "and Cordelia, although very human looking is actually the Queen Bee of all evil. She also has visions of mayhem."

"Not yet, but I can be if you continue to annoy me" bit back Cordelia.

And then all hell broke loose.

"What do you mean by 'Watches Buffy'?" asked Alex.

"And what exactly is a werewolf?" Questioned Isabel.

"What the hell is a 'bug teacher' supposed to be?" Demanded Michael.

"You blew up your school?"

"A witch?"

"Mouth of Hell?"

---------------------

Some hours later Giles was explaining what a slayer was to the now semi calm group.

"Once in every generation a slayer is born, and only she has the special powers to fight vampires and demons and such. Every slayer is assigned a watcher, who essentially trains, guides and watches over her."

"Except now there are two slayers 'cause I died."

"So you're a ghost now?" asked Alex.

"Nope, nor am I a vampire in case you're wondering, Xander gave me CPR."

"Yeah and you should see the Buffster in action, she's saved the world a couple of times over." Said Xander.

Cordelia rolled her eyes at Xanders statement, it was obvious he still hero worshipped the freak "We helped of course" she added, making sure that everyone was aware that Buffy wasn't that great.

"I also died, from a gunshot wound, well almost died. Max saved me, that's how I came to know about them" said Liz, giving Buffy a smile of understanding.

Giles turned to Cade "What exactly is your involvement in all of this?"

"I've been fighting the Gua…"

"There's that word again" remarked Buffy, beginning to become irritated that these people now knew almost all there was to know about her and her friends, and yet they still knew next to nothing about them.

Cade continued as if there had been no interruption "…for some time, they're an evil race of aliens predicted by Nostradamus here to destroy earth in three waves, anyway I came across the destinies of these four when deciphering another quatrain from the books of Nostradamus. Max, Isabel, Maria and Michael are destined to save earth from the Gua."

Giles stiffened "A prophesy transcribed from the work of Nostradamus is what brought us here. It mentioned Invasion from above."

Cade nodded "that would be the prequel to Armageddon, and in order for the Gua to succeed, they need to destroy the only thing that currently protects Earth, Max, Michael, Isabel and Maria."

"Lets not forget that we somehow also have to save our own planet too" added Michael bitterly.

"So what's it like living on another planet?" Asked Oz.

Max shrugged "We don't remember our past; our first memories are from the age of six after we emerged from the pods…"

Oz held his hand up "Whoa, hold up a sec…pods?"

Maria continued the story "from what we can understand, after the crash in '47 we were in some sort of stasis in these pods until '89 when we emerged as six year olds."

"And you call us weird?" Remarked Xander.

"You are!" Said Michael.

"Hey! I'm not about to get into a discussion about who's weirder with a fire throwing extra-terrestrial who grew up in a pod."

"As far as I'm concerned, you're all way beyond weird" said Kyle in exasperation.

"Son…"

"No dad, just how in the hell did you get involved in all of this? Have you got some sort of death wish, or are you just trying to follow in grandad's footsteps?"

"That's enough! I don't think you realize how important these people are; they've all given up their lives for the rest of mankind."

"Well technically some of them didn't have lives to begin with…" pointed out Cordelia.

"Meanwhile I'm still having trouble figuring out how my girlfriend left me for an alien" continued Kyle after giving Cordelia an annoyed glance.

"Hey nothing beats a vampire slayer falling for a vampire" joked Xander, attempting to lighten the escalating mood.

I'm getting the feeling nobody appreciates my humour Xander thought to himself after receiving more dark looks.

"Xander although we er appreciated your uh unique point of view, I think we'd get a lot further if you kept your opinion to yourself." Suggested Giles.

There was a chorus of agreement.

"Feelings people, some of us have feeling's 'ya know…I think you've just destroyed my pride."

"Puh-leez, you wouldn't know pride if it hit you in the face and introduced itself" said Cordelia.

"Shut it, demon kisser." Xander said, referring to her kiss with the half-demon Doyle, who had given his power of visions to her during the previously mentioned kiss.

Cordelia suppressed her surprise at Xander's knowledge of the kiss to retort. "You should talk…demon lover."

"Anya's an ex-demon."

"Yeah but as I recall, I was the only human girlfriend you ever had. I guess if the human girls won't have you, you've got no other choice than to date the demon ones."

"Hey, it was a heck of a lot better than dating you, at least none of them were ever on the same level of evil as you are!"

"Do you people even remember what normal is?" Shouted Isabel, feeling more and more like she'd stepped into a rabbit hole.

"Tension is a little high, I think perhaps we should call it a night and reconvene in the morning" Suggested Giles, feeling exhausted with the days events.

Sheriff Valenti agreed "good idea."

"Yeah and we still need to find a place to stay" Willow reminded everyone.

"What about the motel we saw you at, don't you have rooms there?" Asked Maria.

"It was full" answered Buffy "and kinda creepy looking."

"You're welcome to stay here, although we don't have enough room for all of you" offered Liz.

Alex nodded "we have an extra bed, as well as a sofa."

"I'm sure between all of us, we can give each of you a place to sleep" agreed Max.

Before leaving for their separate destinations, Willow pulled Oz aside "are you okay? With the sleeping arrangements I mean?"

"Sure…you?"

"Yeah, yeah, it's great. It's just that I was worried you might be upset that we're not, 'ya know…together?"

Oz cupped his girlfriends face "we've got plenty of time for that."

"I know, and I'm sort of relieved because it's good we're going slow, you were gone a long time and you've only been back for a few weeks…so maybe it's better this way?" She asked nervously.

"Slow is good, so long as we're together."

"I'm glad you feel the same way, I was worried you would be upset."

Oz pulled Willow into a hug "I'm just glad we found our way back to each other, that's all that matters."

Smiling into her boyfriends chest Willow silently agreed, loosing him had sent her spiralling into the dark magicks, getting her noticed by the demon vengeance community. She didn't want anything like that to ever happen to her again.

Although the job offer was certainly a boost for her pride, it was not a title she would ever want to carry…having met a former vengeance demon in the form of Xanders girlfriend Anya, Willow was not inclined to ever join the ranks of the vengeance community.


	6. My So Called Life

**First Wave: "destiny is what you do with it"**

**Disclaimer: See chapter 1**

" It's choice, not chance, that determines your destiny."

- Jean Nidetch

A/N: Many thanks to my reviewer Magali, it means a lot to read your reviews after each chapter, thank you so much for taking the time :-)

---------------------

Maria came into the living room carrying bedding for an army "Actually I'm glad you're staying with me, we have a lot in common."

"How so?" asked Buffy as she assisted Maria by taking some of her load.

"Well uh, there's the whole 'Chosen One' thing."

"Yeah, really weird" agreed Buffy as she carried the bedding over to the sofa that Maria was now in the process of making into a bed.

Maria placed a pillow and blanket on her sofa, before sitting down on another "so how did you take it when you found out about your destiny?"

"I did what any normal fifteen year old would do...I freaked."

"Me too" laughed Maria.

"You mean you didn't always know?" Asked Buffy in surprise, having believed that the Alien had always known about her heritage.

"Yeah, I mean no, well I always knew I was different and I used to get some strange flashbacks and all, but I had no idea I was from another planet, let alone a 'Chosen One'."

"What about Michael, Max & Isabel? How did they find out about their heritage?"

"I think we all knew when we emerged, but with time, and without the support of my siblings I forgot, or at least pushed the memories away. Without having people like me around, no one to share my weirdness with, I guess I began to believe that I was suffering from an overactive imagination. When I was little, my powers caused me so much trouble that I stopped using them and by the time I was seven I really believed that I'd never had any."

"So how did you get separated?"

"Being the youngest I emerged a year after everyone else and when I was found I was placed in a home straight away. I met Michael, Max and Izzy for the first time about two years ago."

Buffy grinned "It's like days of our lives, only with alien drama thrown into the mix."

Maria laughed "something tells me your story is also somewhat of a soap opera...drama...angst...unbelievable plot twists..."

Both girls broke into fits of laughter.

When the laughter died down, Buffy shared snippets of her own soap opera with Maria.

"Life on the mouth of Hell is definitely not boring. My highschool years were spent battling Vampires, Fish people, she grinned. "I even had to kill the love of my life."

Maria gave her a startled look.

"Angel has a happiness clause built into the spell that returned his soul, if he experiences happiness, he looses his soul. On my seventeenth birthday, that's exactly what happened and I spent the next couple of months battling the demon who inhabited the body of the man that I loved. Eventually, he opened a portal to hell, intending to suck in the entire world and the only way to stop it was to send him to hell instead."

Maria gaped in horror at the story unfolding.

"He got back from hell, but after that, despite how much we still loved one another, we decided that we couldn't risk it happening again, so after graduation and the whole school burning down escapade he left."

"My relationships didn't get much better after that. Mostly because I couldn't let go of Angel, but also because the normal guys I dated turned out to be not so normal. The last serious relationship I had was with a guy who worked for an underground military base run by a psychopathic nutcase who experimented on demons for God only knows what reason."

Buffy sent Maria a wry smile "so now I pretty much date casually. Serious relationships are clearly not my forte. Besides, between my two jobs, it's not like I meet anyone worth dating."

"Two jobs?" Questioned Maria.

"Yeah, Slaying by night and gym teacher by day at the newly built Sunnydale High. It's so not what I intended for my life, but my night job doesn't exactly allow me much flexibility. Besides, this way I can keep an eye on the Hellmouth."

Both girls continued to chat as they prepared a light meal for dinner.

For Buffy the evening brought some perspective on her life, both her and Maria shared the burden of being Chosen Ones, and having to save the world numerous times were things that they both had experienced, something that her friends could never comprehend, Buffy admitted to herself that her friends had always been there helping with the responsibilities of saving the world, but they were there by choice not by destiny like her, choice and destiny were very different, and before now, she'd never really had anyone who shared that with her. Unless you counted Faith, but Buffy and Faith had never really seen eye-to-eye on the whole 'chosen one' deal. Faith had treated it like a game, whereas Buffy had found it to be a burden.

People like Xander and Willow were the real hero's in this soap opera that was their life, which was why it was nice to know someone who was also here by destiny, who also carried this burden of responsibility through no choice of her own.

"So do you guys have any idea why you were sent to earth? I mean, I get that it was for your protection, to keep you safe until you were ready to fight back, but why you guys specifically?" Asked Buffy between mouthfuls of food.

"It's complicated. When we died..."

"You what now?"

Sending her house guest a rueful smile, Maria continued "Told you it was complicated. When we were killed, our essences were blended with human DNA, and sent to earth to keep us safe until we could return. Normally when one King dies, another one takes his place, but because with all of us gone, the line of Royals was forever erased, leaving the planet without a power source and essentially unprotected."

Buffy gave Maria an incredulous look. "You guys ruled the planet?"

"Max is the King."

"So you're like a Princess?"

Maria nodded.

"Well scratch that whole soap opera theory, we've now wondered into the stuff of fairytales cross X-Files."

"It is pretty unbelievable."

"So, the King and all those in line to the throne get killed, no offence, but why can't they just elect someone else?"

"The King is more than just a ruler, he carries the power within him to protect his planet, normally this essence is passed on to his children, or failing that, his siblings when he dies. When the Gua attacked Antar, they made sure that no one was left in the Royal family. With our deaths, Antar was open to attack."

"So the King is pretty important."

"Hence the need for a Chosen One. The First Chosen One was created millenia ago , they needed someone with the sole purpose and the power to protect that which protected the nation."

Buffy found herself taking note of how similar their heritages were. Both of them were created to protect, both of them came from a long line of others with the same purposes. It was eerie.

"So how come there are two Chosen Ones?"

"Destiny." Replied Maria, "Or fate. We don't know how it was possible for there to be two of us, Cade hasn't been able to decipher that yet. What we do know is that when the Chosen One was created, so was the Precog, although the official title is Visioner, who in a sense is the protector of the Chosen One. The Visioner would have predictions of future events to assist the Chosen One in her duty. Years ago this War was predicted by one such Visioner, that's how our people were prepared to extract the essences. From what Cade has been able to decipher, The Visioner and the Chosen One have always been members or have had close ties to the Royal family, to ensure that they would always be loyal to one another. When the Visioner predicted the War, she also predicted the birth of two Chosen Ones, this would be the indicator that the War was about to begin."

"Okay...this is all a little confusing, but what I really don't get is why the Gua were after you in the first place?"

Maria shrugged "You and me both, all we know is that we had something that they wanted. Something powerful."

"The ability to create and extract essences maybe?"

"Except, according to Cade, our people only learnt how to extract the essences after they learnt of the prophecy."

"Well what about the creating part?"

Maria shook her head "Nuh-uh. Cade says that Antar was entrusted with an object of untold value by some people called The Guardians. They gave it to us to hide from the Gua. Along with this object, they inserted into the King of that time the Essence to protect his planet from any attack. The planet needed to be impenetrable by those who were after the object. Into his wife the essence of The Chosen One was inserted and into her brother the essence of Visions. They were making triple sure this object was going to be kept safe."

* * *

Cordelia eyed her host warily, wondering if those dingy motels were so bad after all. "So you also have visions huh?" She asked, trying to get a word out of her non-communicative host.

"Yeah." Came the short reply.

Okay, so this was going to be harder than she thought "don't you just hate them, I mean really, is it necessary to be put through that agony for a few pieces of measly information that never really makes sense?"

"My visions are very necessary to our survival, and anyway, mine don't hurt." Replied Isabel, purposefully neglecting to mention the fact that she was still developing that particular power.

"Oh" responded Cordelia, upset that she was the only vision-girl with painful visions. She nervously looked around the small apartment that was overcome with unpacked boxes. "So did you...uh...guy's just move in here or something?"

"Yes, and right now I should be on my honeymoon, not making a bed on my sofa for some stranger who hunt's demons for a living."

Cordelia got the hint and kept quiet. Normally, she would not have backed down. Afterall, she was the Queen of cutting remarks and scathing comments. In this case however, her opponent was an Alien with scary powers. Again this was something that would normally not bother her, after all, as the Alien had pointed out, she made a living from hunting the weird and wonderful.

The difference this time was that the anger directed at her from the Alien, was not the normal 'I hate the world and anything living in it' type anger, it was more like 'You almost killed my sister by stabbing her in the back' anger.

Which was infinitively worse.

Okay, so fine, she made an itty bitty mistake and stabbed the alleged good guy, but in her defence, how was she supposed to know? When you're faced with a doomsday prophecy and a bunch of people who could kick a Slayers ass, you don't stop to wonder if they're really good people from another planet trying to protect this planet from the bad aliens.

It's just not something that comes up in the middle of an alley fight.

In another room of the apartment Willow eyed a computer with a combination of envy and awe "cool set-up."

Alex was helping Willow settle in to their spare room which was where he kept all his computer equipment, and which was what she was referring to.

"So you know your way around computers?"

"I play around some."

"They're so logical, that's why I like them."

Willow nodded "me too, but more than that, it's also my comfort zone, a place where I am in control."

Alex nodded in agreement "yeah something like that. I guess I'll leave you to it then, I'm just going to go and make sure my wife and your friend aren't killing each other yet."

"Probably a good idea, sometimes Cordelia doesn't know when to keep her mouth shut, she has a way of getting under people's skin."

Alex grinned "I hadn't noticed."

Willow hesitated a moment, not sure if the question that was playing on her mind would be taken as her sticking her nose where it didn't belong. Gathering her courage, she forced the words out.

"Earlier…we…uh…some of my friends and I couldn't help overhearing…" Willow paused, unsure how to broach this subject without sounding like her and Cordelia hadn't been eavesdropping, which was exactly what they had been doing, with the help of some witchy powers.  
"Cade was talking about Royals, and we wondered if…"

"You wondered if the Aliens among us are blue blooded?"

Willow nodded.

"The answer would be yes, Max was a King, Michael was his Second in Command and Maria and Isabel were princesses."

"Oh okay" nodded Willow, feeling more and more like she was drowning.

Alex hesitated at the door "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure?"

"Before, when you said you were a witch, did you mean that in the sense that you hold séances and play with Ouiji Boards, or in the sense that you can cast spells?"

"The spell casting sense."

Whispering a quick incantation, Willow clicked her fingers and the lights went out, although not that remarkable in itself when you have an alien wife, Alex did find himself impressed when he looked up at the ceiling, or what was once the ceiling and was currently a galaxy full of stars.

"It's not the real sky if that's what you're wondering."

Alex didn't answer, he was not sure he even knew what he was wondering.

"It's a glamour, kinda like a trick played on the mind."

"Uh huh" grunted Alex.

* * *

"Hey G-man."

Startled, Giles almost dropped his tooth brush "Xander! I'm brushing my teeth, do you mind!"

"Course not" he sat down on the edge of the bathtub, watching Giles through the mirror.

Exasperated, Giles asked "what do you want?"

"Just watching your back Giles my man."

"Watching it from what, the shower curtain?"

"Just making sure those alien things don't try anything on you, like turn you into a frog…or something."

"A frog? Xander really, what on earth gave you that idea….oh I see…"

"What? What do you see?" He whipped his head back and forth, nervously looking for whatever it was that Giles could 'see'.

"They're not going to hurt you, they seem like very nice er… people."

Xander scoffed "I'm not afraid of ET and his bride….which begs up the question, who in their right mind marries an alien…nobody that's who, which just goes to prove that ET's bride is obviously not all there, if you know what I mean?"

"As per usual, I haven't the foggiest idea what you are talking about." With a softer tone he continued "why don't you get some sleep?"

By this point Giles had long since finished brushing his teeth and was now facing Xander with his arms crossed against his chest.

"Okay, but don't come screaming to me in the night, besides the fact I'll ignore you 'cos I told you so…my door will also be locked."

As Xander left, Giles was left contemplating the use of door locks and perhaps putting them to use more often.

His thoughts then strayed to the young mans intrusion of his bathroom activities, and he was left to wonder if the nights revelations hadn't affected some of them more than he'd thought. Xander was obviously not comfortable with the situation, and in all honesty, Giles was not sure he was all that comfortable either.

Willow and Buffy appeared to be the only two at all comfortable with the Aliens, perhaps due to the fact that neither Buffy nor Willow were that normal either.

Cordelia, Angel and Oz were harder to read. Their thoughts on their current situation still remained to be seen.

* * *

There's a vampire spending the night in my apartment, I have got to be loosing my mind. Not to mention this dude is more broody than I am

Michael stepped out of the bathroom to see said vampire doing something to his windows "what are you doing?"

"Covering the windows."

"I don't recall telling you to make yourself at home."

Angel stopped what he was doing and looked at Michael "sunlight and I don't exactly mix."

"What are you talking about?" Michael wondered if this had something to do with the fact that Angel could not enter his apartment without being invited.

"I turn to dust if exposed to direct sunlight."

Michael paused, momentarily taken back. It seemed to him that with each passing hour, his life became more complicated.

He had no doubt he'd be using his powers to seal his bedroom door shut that night.

"Whatever! I'm going to bed, just don't make a mess."

--------------------------------

Angel looked around the apartment in disbelief; the place looked like it was a bomb blast area which made him wonder if Willow's earlier theory about the aliens being a form of Royalty a figment of the red heads imagination.

Cordelia had been intrigued at the possibility, whereas Xander had argued that it didn't matter, because they were obviously all off their rocker.

Angel gave a sardonic grin, Xander's statements sounded like something Spike would say.

Angel found it refreshing that someone else was on the top of the boys hate list, it gave him a bit of a break from the constant snarky comments.

After removing candy wrappers and empty beer cans from the vicinity of the sofa, Angel snorted once again at the possibility that the four aliens were in fact royalty. He'd known people of Royal descent during his time as the Scourge of Europe and they definitely did not live in the apartment version of a dumpster.

---------------------------------

From the kitchen, Michael opened a bottle of Snapple and watched Angel warily as the Vampire removed a sock from behind the sofa cushion. He wasn't sure if he believed any of their fantastical stories yet, but he was certain that he didn't trust them. Especially the Vampire, which was why he'd eventually agreed to allow the Vampire in his home. Keep your enemies close, was his knew motto.

With that thought in mind, he left the kitchen and made his way to the bedroom.

* * *

"You think those people are for real?" Valenti asked, referring to the group from Sunnydale.

Kyle answered "that or they just had a mass escape of lunatics from some asylum….why am I the only person here not worried for their life, or for that matter, sanity?"

"Give them a chance son, these people aren't that bad, In fact you might even find yourself liking them."

Kyle snorted "not likely, I prefer to socialize with people of my own species."

The Sheriff decided to let his son's comments slide for the time being, instead he looked over to where Cade was on the phone having a conference call with his colleague Eddie and his new wife Jordan.

Kyle sat in stony silence, contemplating the evening. His father had spent the last hour explaining all that had occurred the past couple of years, which had in turn explained a lot of the strange happenings in Roswell. Like the shooting at the Crashdown, all the secrecy and his fathers pre-occupation with anything Max Evans related. It also explained his fathers complete about turn. Kyle had often wondered how his father had gone from his hostile opinion of Max in one day to attending his wedding in the next. At the time, Kyle had assumed his father had lost his marbles, then again, if he was consorting with Aliens he probably had lost his marbles.

Apparently it ran in the family.

And then there was the fact that his high school girlfriend was now a Queen of a planet she'd never stepped foot on.

What was even more bizarre was the fact that 'technically' Max hadn't stepped foot on it either. Not in his current body or lifetime anyway.

Kyle felt his entire concept of the world dissolving. In one night he'd learned that everything he thought to be true about the world, was not. Aliens did exist, and were currently fighting a battle for HIS planet, and if that wasn't enough to send him screaming for the hills, there was the fact that demons and basically anything a persons nightmarish mind could conjure also existed and were also fighting a war over this planet.

He didn't know what was true anymore, and it scared him more than anything else had ever scared him in his life.

How could a person live with the knowledge and still continue a normal life, never knowing what creature from elsewhere was going to pop out and destroy you. Was it even worth it?

He was very much afraid that he wouldn't be able to pick up his life after the nights revelations.

* * *

Buffy placed the empty mug on the coffee table and stretched "I need to go and patrol."

"What for?"

"Vampires and stuff, even though I'm not in Sunnydale I can't take a break from Slayerage."

"Mind if I join you?"

"I wouldn't mind the company, and it helps that you can hold your own in a battle."

--------------------------

"This is so spooky."

Maria jumped in fright, if the vampire hunter was spooked, then that meant something serious was going on "what is it?"

"I'm used to more vamps, living on the hellmouth and all, it's weird not seeing any."

Maria gave her a look of disbelief "Uh right, it's a weird night if you don't run into any vampires…got it."

Quirking a brow at the sarcastic comment, Buffy said "I guess it must seem kind of odd to you."

Buffy stopped mid stride and cocked her head slightly as she strained her ears, she signalled for Maria to keep quiet and led her to a nearby bush. "Okay vamp-boy…or girl…uh, person, I know you're in there, so lets make this easy on both of us by you coming out with your hands up and your teeth where I can see them." Buffy shook her head at the whole non-scariness of her threat, but trusted in the natural instinct of the vampire to come out anyway in the hopes of a light snack before bedtime.

Before the Vampire in question could appear, Buffy was distracted by a rumbling growl behind her.

With lightning reflexes, she pushed Maria out of the way of what she could only describe as a big rabid dog faced demon.

Also, it was blue.

Apparently the approaching apocalypse was drawing all the nasties to Roswell.

Realising that her stake was not going to do the trick, Buffy dropped it and removed the duffel bag from her shoulders. Inside was a consortium of weapons, including more stakes, a crossbow and her sword.

All brand new from a shop in Sante Fe this very day. Giles had arranged for the store to have a courier person waiting at the airport when they arrived. Her watcher certainly had the strangest contacts in the strangest of places, but she supposed it was all part of his job.

Whilst bending to remove the sword, Buffy herself was thrown aside as a figure rushed past her in a blur, charging the dog-faced creature.

Not waiting to see what lunatic who wasn't a Slayer would charge a demon, Buffy pulled herself off the ground and raced after the blur of black leather who was currently grappling with Big Blue.

Together the two warriors fought the creature as Maria watched in open mouthed astonishment.

Michael was never going to believe this.

Certain that she would only be in the way, Maria watched as Buffy ducked a swing of the demons spiked arm and slashed at it with her sword.

She didn't know which was more astonishing, the fact that there was a second fighter, the fact that there was a blue demon in her local graveyard, or the fact that Buffy was swinging a sword around like a swash buckling hero of old.

With a final thrust of her sword, Buffy finished off the demon and turned to her fellow demon fighter.

In a replica of Maria's earlier draw dropping astonishment, Buffy stared at the man is shock.

"Slayer?" It was said with a decidedly British accent.


	7. Pet

**First Wave: "destiny is what you do with it"**

**Disclaimer: See chapter 1**

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. The true neighbour will risk his position, his prestige and even his life for the welfare of others. In dangerous valleys and hazardous pathways, he will lift some bruised and beaten brother to a higher and more noble life.

(not sure who the author is)

* * *

Buffy was speechless…well almost "Spike! What the hell are you doing here?" She demanded, pointing her sword at the bleached blond vampire.

"I could ask you the same" he responded, lighting up a cigarette and blowing the smoke in her direction, mainly because he knew how much it annoyed her, but also because he needed the distraction to mask his surprise at finding the Slayer so far away from the Hellmouth. Briefly he wondered if he was being stalked by the blonde Slayer, it wouldn't surprise him, being the devilishly handsome vampire he was, not to mention her strange attraction to the un-dead population.

"I'm asking the questions, so let me guess, you're here to help us out of the evilness of your heart?" Her voice dripped sarcasm as she glared at the vampire who had been put on earth for the sole reason of annoying her to death.

Maria watched the exchange with growing interest, apparently you had a conversation with what she assumed was a vampire before killing it, also, it seemed it was customary for the vampire to know you on a personal level and for you to know the vampire on a personal level.

Oh yeah, this was weird.

"Very bloody funny, actually no, I heard there was going to be some action here and I wanted a front row seat to the end of the world." It was true…mostly. Obviously he wasn't too keen on the end of the world part, and would do what he could to stop that, but he was definitely here for the action…these days demon bashing was the only way for him to get his jollies, hence the reason for him being in Roswell, home of the infamous Roswell incident and the newest hotspot for all that was evil.

Evil. Which he still was, despite the previously mentioned enjoyment of demon bashing. The fact was, he supported any attempt at chaos, in fact he was normally the vampire leading the army of said chaos causers. What he didn't support was an end to chaos, and ending the world would definitely put a damper on that. Didn't mean he wasn't evil.

Actually, come to think of it, he was royally pissed off that the Slayer was following him around, treating him like a naughty puppy that had to be endured. He was still evil and he was tired of Demons and Slayers thinking otherwise.

"I'm still evil!" He shouted at her in a fit of anger.

"What?" Clearly confused at the sudden announcement, she sent him a look that showed her disdain. "Spike you're an idiot. You're preaching to the choir here. I'm totally on-board with all your evilness, the only reason I've let you live this long is because you're pathetic."

Maria decided to cut in before the evening got any stranger "anybody care to full me in? I thought we were supposed to kill the vampires, not talk to them?"

Spike turned to look at Maria who was uncomfortably clutching a stake in her hand. "What? Another slayerette in training, couldn't hack it with just yourself and the other Slayer wannabe's?"

Ignoring Spike, Buffy answered Maria "he's a vampire, albeit a harmless one. That previously mentioned government group put a chip in his head which prevents him from hurting humans, now he just annoys us."

"This just gets weirder. So how come you don't just kill him?"

"Hey!" Shouted Spike, insulted at the suggestion and annoyed at the 'annoying' reference, she was the bloody annoying one if you asked him.

"Good question, it would certainly save me a couple of headaches, but it would be like kicking a dog when it's down."

"Enough with the Spike-bashing pet, what…you got a bit of sexual tension you can't work off so you're taking it out on innocent old Spike?"

Buffy squinted at Spike suspiciously. "Spike, the only thing you're innocent of is being a formidable enemy, so what exactly do you know about all this action?"

"I'm the only enemy you couldn't kill, Pet."

"Yeah, and I'm the only Slayer you couldn't kill, so back to my question, what do you know about the latest apocalypse?"

"Nothing I swear, word on the street is it's some sort of ancient prophecy, so I thought I'd check it out. Hey, you wouldn't by any chance have a place for me to crash during the day would'ya?" Asked Spike, putting on his 'charming' face. Which translated to a cocky grin.

He'd only just arrived in the town, and with dawn nearing he was sorely lacking a place to hide out from the 'death-rays' as he had affectionately named what most people referred to as the sun.

Buffy gave him a look of disgust "And I would help you out…why?"

"'Cos you're the bloody good guy's and all, helping the innocent, saving Christmas and all that tosh, it's what you do." He grinned, putting on the full Spike Charm.

Buffy however was not charmed. "I think I've done you enough favours by not dusting you already, and you're by no means innocent."

"I guess he could sleep on the floor of…."

"Splendid, let's go luv's."

Before Buffy could protest, Spike was bounding past them.

"Are you insane" spluttered Buffy.

Looking chagrined but stubborn Maria answered, "hey, I was just trying to give you the option of inviting him if you wanted, he obviously thought I was inviting him directly. In any case, you guys looked awfully pal-ly."

Shaking her head Buffy responded, "No, you did the right thing, at least this way we can keep any eye on the annoying one."

Sending a look of disgust at the demon pieces scattered around them, Buffy said "I so don't feel like burying that and yet I can't leave it for the good citizens of Roswell to discover when visiting the graves of their dearly departed"

Sending the Slayer a grin, Maria responded "maybe I can help." With a brief look at the back of the retreating Vampire, Maria quickly waved her hand over the scattered remains, dissolving it into the ground.

"You're definitely handy to have on patrol" grinned Buffy, before hurrying after Spike.

So the Vampire led the Slayer and the Alien out of the cemetery and towards the town.

"Which way pets?"

* * *

"Aaargh!" Screamed Xander.

Twisting in his sheets in a vain attempt to get away, he succeeded only in trapping himself further.

"Hey man, it's me."

Xander still trying to catch his breath stared wide-eyed at Oz who was standing above him "what the hell are you doing?" He clutched at his chest.

"You were snoring."

"So you tried to kill me?"

"No, I tried to wake you."

"Next time, whistle or something…a little prior warning would be most appreciated, considering the type of dreams I tend to have living the life I do."

"Not planning on sharing a room with you again dude, you sound like train when you sleep." Replied Oz as he climbed back into his bed.

"I agree, there's no way I could survive waking up to your face looming over me again, beside, I'm thinking that tomorrow we high-tail it out of here and leave the evil aliens to the Roswell freaks, it's their problem, let them handle it."

"So you want to leave the end-of-the-world in their untrained hands? You're comfortable with that?"

"Not really, but how much experience do we have in this area anyway?"

"Good point."

* * *

Alex sat down on his bed and eyed his wife who was brushing her hair in front of the vanity. He never tired of this nightly ritual, every night it was the same, she would sit before the mirror combing out her long locks whilst he watched dreamy-eyed as her golden hair shimmered in the soft light cast off from the bedside lamps.

This night was different however. For a while now a question had been plaguing him, especially now that the end of the world was very seriously nigh…he needed to know.

"Why didn't you ever try and dreamwalk me?"

"What?" Asked Isabel, pausing in her night-time ritual to look at her husband in confusion.

"You know, when you were looking for Maria, you said once that you had my picture, so why didn't you try."

Isabel turned back to the vanity and continued to brush her long locks, wondering what brought this line of questioning on. "I did."

"Pardon?"

"I did try and dreamwalk you, I used all my feminine charm and wiles, but dream world or not, you just refused to give away where your sister was." She answered, smiling at her husband's reflection in the mirror.

"Really?"

"Yeah, you were unbreakable" grinned Isabel.

"That's me, unbreakable Alex." His chest puffed out as he accepted the statement as the intended compliment that it was.

There was a pause before he spoke out loud "Hmm!"

"What?"

"I was just thinking, sometimes you do marry your dream woman, 'cause technically, you are a woman right out of one of my dreams."

Putting down her hairbrush, Isabel swivelled in her seat to look at her husband directly.

"Why the questions?" She asked, feeling a twinge of concern.

"It's something that's never made sense in my mind. I'd assumed that you never tried otherwise you would have found Maria sooner, which begged the question, why wouldn't you utilise the power you had to find your missing sister."

"Why now? I mean, it's been years…"

"I guess, what with everything that's happened the past couple of weeks, the question suddenly became an issue. Before it didn't matter because life was great, we were getting married, but since Cade returned, it's like the little hold we've had on a perfect existence had slipped from our grasp and I'm scared of what's to come." He paused "I needed to know, in case something happens."

Isabel rose from her chair and approached her husband "nothing is going to happen."

Alex gave her a grim smile "I wish I were as confident."

He reached out a hand and grasped her wrist, pulling her on to the bed with him "I know it may have seemed a silly question, and I'm sure there are probably more important things I should ask, especially if we are on borrowed time…but, for some reason it was important to me."

Isabel narrowed her eyes as her mind 'clicked' "you thought that we didn't take you seriously enough to utilise you in our search for Maria?"

Alex shrugged "I have been generally looked upon as useless and un-important most of my life, and although it's never been an issue, I just…couldn't bare to think that you thought of me the same way."

Leaning over, Isabel placed her lips gently on Alex's "never have I, nor ever would I underestimate you. You are the most amazingly gentle, yet smart, funny and handsome man I have ever known. Only someone extremely ignorant would ever underestimate what you are capable of."

Smiling into the gentle kiss, Alex pulled Isabel further on to the bed.

* * *

His fingers brushed lightly across her back as he slowly circled her, his face inches from her body and his breath blowing erotically against her warm skin.

When he faced her once more, he slowly brought his lips to meet hers in the most softest and loving of kisses, leaving her trembling for more.

"Max." She whispered into his mouth, leaving no doubt that she was asking for more.

Circling her once more, he stepped behind her and caressed her neck. His fingers slipped under her spaghetti straps and he slipped the straps off of her shoulders, placing tiny kisses in the trail left by his fingers.

A sigh left her lips.

Pulling the straps back into place, he ran his fingers down both her arms stopping when he reached her wrists, gently he lifted her hands above her head before running his hands down her spine and reaching for the hem of her shirt.

With a smile of satisfaction at the effect he was having on her, he lifted the shirt up and off her, only allowing her to drop her arms once the task had been completed.

She turned in his arms until she faced him, her dark eyes almost black, testimony to the passion building within her.

He lifted his own arms as she too pulled his shirt off, his own groan of pleasure escaping his lips as her lips brushed kisses along his bare chest.

Unable to take any more of the sweet torture, he lifted her into his arms and walked to their large king sized bed, placing her gently amongst the soft down of the duvet.

His eyes hungrily roamed the expanse of her body, feeding on every sight he could take in before succumbing to his need and climbing into her reaching arms.

"I love you, more than words could ever describe, more and more everyday."

She responded to his words by opening up her connection to him, letting him into her heart, and into her soul, letting him feel for himself the all-consuming love for him that burned within her.

"Whatever happens Max, however long we have together, I need you to know that each day is worth a trillion days to me, one kiss from you is more fulfilling than an entire life span, and if my life span is less than others, I'll never regret a second. Never."

And then their mouths met in a searing kiss, igniting a burning fire within them both.

THE NEXT DAY

Opening his eyes, he forgot for a moment where he was, certainly not in his bed if the springs digging into his back were any indication, it also didn't help that he couldn't see a damned thing. Where the hell were his glasses anyway? That's when he remembered that he was sleeping on a pull-out couch in the Evans living-room. His preferred choice of sleeping arrangement since his only other option was sharing a room with Xander, as the young man had been first to call dibs on a bed in the spare bedroom. Reaching out a hand towards the coffee table, he grasped around until he found his glasses and put them on. With a groan caused from old age, and entirely too many demon brawls, he got off the makeshift bed and rubbed his sore back, sniffing the air and following the enticing aroma to the kitchen.

"Morning Mr. Giles, are you hungry?"

"Yes, quite, thank you and please call me Giles, everyone else does."

Liz placed a plate in front of Giles and then sat down and sipped her orange juice.

Giles picked up the utensils, then noticed that she had not dished up any food for herself "are you not eating?"

"No, I'm feeling slightly queasy this morning" she answered.

Giles nodded knowingly "ah, no doubt from all the excitement last night I expect. So where is your husband this morning?"

"He's over at Michaels."

Xander walked into the kitchen rubbing his eyes.

"Good morning, are you hungry?"

Xander eyed Giles's half eaten plate, noting that he had not keeled over dead from anything in the food. "Oh yeah, I could eat a horse…not literally..." he sent another nervous glance towards the food, the concept of horse meat seemed not entirely that improbable considering he was in the home of an Alien, after all, who knew what they ate. It wasn't something that had come up in conversation the previous night.

"Hey, did I hear someone say something about food?" Asked Oz as he too entered the kitchen.

Liz laughed and handed both boys a plate of food. "Eat up, everyone should be here with in an hour, Max has gone to fetch your friend so that he isn't exposed to sunlight."

"Now there's a sentence I never thought I'd utter" muttered Liz.

Xander almost choked on his food "okay, let's just get one thing straight – dead boy ain't no friend of mine."

* * *

A groggy Michael opened his door to find Max standing in the hallway. He let him in without saying a word, and then made his way to the kitchen.

Max nodded a greeting towards Angel as the freshly showered Vampire stepped into the room.

"Morning, how was your night?"

"Morning" answered Angel "and considering I slept on the sofa belonging to an Alien, it was most definitely different to anything I've experienced in my long life."

"Yeah, my night was similar, except it was demon hunters spending the night on my sofa" grinned Max.

With a derisive snort, Michael turned his back on both men and reached for an open carton of milk on the counter.

Angel took that as his cue to exit the kitchen, his mouth twitching in amusement. Let it never be said he didn't have a darker comic side, if he didn't, he would have warned Michael off the milk.

In two large swallows Michael managed to down just under half the carton before his taste buds registered the unmistakable taste of milk long past its expiry date.

With a grimace, Michael spat out the milk he had not yet swallowed and cursed.

Unfortunately for Max, he stood in the direct pathway of the rejected milk and so was showered in a generous helping of the foul smelling liquid.

Had either alien been listening carefully, they might have heard the chortle of amusement coming from the lounge.

Giving his friend a look of disgust, Max waved his hand over the droplets of milk soaking into his shirt and used his power to return his shirt to it previously clean state.

Lacking in social graces, Michael gave no thought to apologising, instead he held his mouth under the faucet and was swallowing large amounts of water in the hope it would wash away the taste of the milk.

"Next time try using the fridge to store the milk, it keeps for longer" suggested Max.

Wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, Michael returned the glare Max was giving him with one of his own.

"As un-interesting and pointless your pearls of wisdom are at this ridiculous hour of the morning, could we get to the part where you explain why you're here?"

Max ignored the caustic comments, to answer the question "I'm your designated driver, I didn't think your house guest would appreciate riding the back of your bike on this bright and shiny morning."

"About that, why is it that the vampire has to bunk with me?"

"You share the same love of brooding, we felt you were kindred spirits" teased Max, enjoying his friends discomfort and trying not to laugh at the choking sound Michael made in response to his explanation.

"What I don't understand is why we haven't sent them packing. We've determined they're not alien, nor have they anything to do with this whole war of the worlds."

"We need all the help we can get Michael, and they're offering to help."

"They're a group of lunatic demon hunters and demons, what the hell kind of help are they going to give?"

"And we're a bunch of aliens with no memory of our alien heritage or any idea why we're in the middle of a war, and yet here we are preparing to defend earth." Max paused for emphasis "we're in way over our heads and personally, I'm grateful for any assistance we can get at this moment."

-----

Angel was slipping his shirt on when the phone began to ring, he tried ignoring it but when nobody went to answer it he decided to answer it himself.

"Hello?"

"Michael?"

"No...it's..."

"Angel?"

"Yeah."

"Oh! Is Max there?"

"I'll get him…"

"No, it's okay, would you please ask him to come by here before heading to his place."

"Sure…who's speaking?"

"Sorry, it's Maria. Thanks Angel, see ya in a few."

Angel put down the phone and looked up to find Michael glaring at him.

"What the hell do you think you were doing answering my phone?"

"Somebody had to answer it."

"Who was it?"

"Maria."

"Maria? What did she want?"

* * *

Maria put down the phone and looked at Buffy. "Max is gonna come by here after he picks up Michael and Angel, he will have organized some means of transport so that our friends of the night don't get fried."

"Cool…or maybe not! Angel and Spike in close quarters is not my idea of fun."

"Lover boy's here too? You two planning on getting pelvic again? Maybe that's what this whole prophecy is about" Spike nodded in glee "yeah this could be fun."

Buffy shot him a disgusted look before leaving the room.

Spike took a deep drag of his cigarette and smiled to himself. Yeah this could be loads of fun

He exhaled, and watched as tendril's of smoke floated around his face.

When the car pulled up ten minutes later, Maria threw a blanket over Spike so that he could make it to the car without spontaneously combusting.

Spike dived into the car, Buffy and Maria followed closely, shutting the door as well as shutting out the rays of deadly sunlight.

"Just what in the hell is going on here?" Demanded Michael.

Both Michael and Max had turned around in their seats to look at the shrouded figure in the back.

"Spike?" Growled Angel, picking up on Druscilla's Childe's scent.

Peeking out from the blanket, Spike grinned at Angel "hello Angelus…been awhile! Yeah I remember now, the last time I saw you I was torturing your sorry little soulful ass."

"It's Angel."

"Oh right, sorry, you change it so often, I have trouble keeping up." He smirked, enjoying the rising anger on Angel's face.

"Maria…care to explain?" Now it was Michael who was practically growling.

"Maybe I should" offered Buffy.

"Well somebody had better."

"He's from Sunnydale, he's a Vampire."

"What's he doing with you two? I thought broody over there was the only 'good' Vampire?"

"Technically he's still evil, just unable to act on his evil tendencies." Answered Buffy "basically he's been chipped, he can't hurt humans."

"And he's with you why?"

"It was that or leave him to his own devices, and trust me when I say, that as annoying as he is, it's still better to have him within staking distance than wondering around looking for trouble."

"Chip or no bloody chip, I'm still the meanest vamp that ever walked!" As an afterthought he added "excluding maybe Angelus over here, must I keep reminding you poofs of that!" Shouted Spike, annoyed at being treated like an irritating fly.

"What does he mean by that?" Demanded Michael.

"Nothing, can we go, It's kinda squishy in the back."

With a lingering glare at all four occupants of the back seat, Michael turned to face the front thinking his day couldn't get any worse.

In only a matter of hours he would realise just how wrong he was.


	8. Alliances Formed

**First Wave: "destiny is what you do with it..."**

**-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

**Disclaimer: See chapter 1**

_"Never believe that a few caring people can't change the world. For indeed, that's all who ever have."  
-Margaret Mead_

* * *

Maria climbed out the car, thanking God she still had her sanity. Angel and Spike had bickered the whole way fighting for space, not to mention the odd comment thrown in by Michael had left her with a splitting headache.

Maria moved to the side as Buffy stormed past her and into the house muttering something about vampiric men.

Maria had to smile whether they're Alien, human or vampire, they're all the same she told herself.

Maria stayed out of the way as both Angel and Spike covered in blankets ran into the house after receiving an invitation from Max, a brooding Michael and thoughtful Max followed suit.

The entire ride over had been a repeat of Spike baiting Angel. Angel barely restraining himself and Michael demanding to know what Spike meant whenever he mentioned the evil escapades of the Scourge of Europe.

When Angel didn't rise to the bait, Spike switched tactics and commented on how nice Joyce Summers hot chocolate was, and had Angel ever been invited in for a cuppa.

The comment sent Angel into brooding silence, well, even more brooding than usual if that were possible and Buffy into a fit of rage. Which of course had been the desired affect.

Michael had naturally butt in at this point and demanded to know who Joyce was.

Spike then changed tactics and had asked Buffy with a cocky grin on his face how Captain Cardboard was, and if she were still missing the shag-muffin.

This had led to Angel throwing Spike out the car.

Max had been forced to bring the car to an abrupt halt and use his shield to protect both vampires from burning to a crisp as they grappled on the tarmac.

With apparent glee, Buffy had punched both men before forcing them back into the car.

Michael had then demanded to know who Captain Cardboard was.

Yep. One Alien and two Vampires were very lucky to still be walking.

---------------------------------------------------------

Max walked into the house and straight into Liz's arms.

"I missed you" whispered Liz in between kisses from her husband.

"I was only gone half an hour."

"Forty-five minutes actually. And besides, any minute apart from you is purest agony."

"Too true." Agreed Max as he accepted the kiss from his wife.

In a heartbeat, what had begun as a welcome home kiss, quickly turned into a passionate embrace of two lovers.

Everything faded around them, until just the two of them were left. His fingers weaving through her silky locks as his tongue duelled with hers.

In a flash, their minds merged as a connection formed. Two heartbeat began to eat as one, two souls fused.

Without words, they claimed ownership upon each other, promising each other forever, even if was only for a day.

Liz's promise the night before ringing through their heads.

"Aargh! Get a room, it's too early in the morning to see something like this."

Abruptly, they were brought back to the present. Surprised to find that their minds, if not their bodies had been somewhere else. A paradise created by the fusion of their minds, bodies and souls.

Max and Liz pulled away from each other and looked bemusedly at Michael's retreating back.

Maria walked up behind them and pulled a face "Don't mind him, he's not a morning person. Oh wait, I forgot, he's not even a person."

Liz giggled "Maria, you're also not quite human so that doesn't really constitute as an insult."

"I meant that he's male…that should be explanation enough. Did I ever tell you about my crazy Aunt Amy? She was the sister of my adoptive mom, her surname was DeLuca, that's how we got it when we changed ours, anyhow, she warned me about boys, but did I listen? Noooo!"

Max and Liz watched as Maria walked off.

"I think, maybe, she has some issues about Michael."

------------------------------------------------------------

"What's he doing here?" Xander jumped up from the sofa and pointed an accusing finger at Spike.

"Well if it isn't the annoying one. I can't describe the joy of seeing you too. Anyone have a stake?"

He looked around as if he seriously considered staking himself. "I'm just here for the entertainment and food you yank wanker."

"So long as we're clear that anything that walks on two legs doesn't constitute as food, oh Bleached Wonder."

Alex gave both men a look of confusion, not understanding the shared animosity he held out his hand in greeting. "Hey, I'm Alex, welcome to Roswell."

Spike ignored the offered hand and instead swore. "Bloody hell, isn't it enough that there's one Alexander in the room, why don't you people just throw the holy water in my face, it would be less painful." He glared at Alex and Xander.

Nervously Alex pulled his hand back and wiped it on his pants, a gesture that Xander had noticed he did when nervous.

"Stupid dead people." He murmured whilst leaving the room, unsure if the 'stupid dead person' in question heard him or not, although he preferred not.

"You forget us stupid dead people have excellent hearing."

Without missing a beat Xander said from over his shoulder "So what? You gonna bite me?"

Alex arched a brow, reaching the obvious conclusion that Spike was another vampire "Interesting."

Spike glared at him "What?"

"I...er...nothing" he stammered before fleeing the room.

Spike laughed as Alex scurried out of the room, as harmless as he might currently be, he still got perverse pleasure from scaring people.

------------------------------------------------

"Pillock."

"Giles! Language." Admonished Buffy with a shocked grin on her face. "At least I'm assuming that was the British version of swearing."

Both Slayer and Watcher had been standing at the opposite doorway to the living-room and had seen the entire exchange.

Giles turned back to his Slayer "he's a bloody nuisance. Explain to me again why you brought him here?"

----------------------------------------------------

"What's eating you?" Questioned Michael.

To his dismay he'd found himself alone with Maria in the kitchen, and she was obviously furious about something.

"Actually my day was going great."

"So what's the problem?" Trying to understand Maria, was like trying to understand Greek.

"Yeah well then I saw you."

Michael looked at her as if she'd completely lost her mind.

Maria ignored him and continued to spoon sugar into her mug.

Michael threw his hands up in air in frustration "I just don't get you."

"Maybe that's because you've never bothered trying to get to know someone else, your whole life is centred around you and what you want. Have you ever stopped to consider others for a moment? Have you ever stopped to…consider…me?"

"Maria...I…"

Liz put her head around the door "sorry to interrupt guys but everyone is here, we're just waiting for you two."

----------------------------------------------------------

"So basically the plan is to patrol until something happens? Sounds productive." Remarked Buffy, hating the fact that they were sitting around waiting for the enemy to come to them."

"But something you're good at" pointed out Xander "the patrolling I mean, not the waiting."

Cade scratched his head "there's not much if anything that we can do, until we find out what their plan is."

"It's simple" stated Michael, "they want to kill us."

"I don't mean to interrupt, well actually I don't really care, but why are these people after you, did you shag their mother or something?" Asked Spike, utterly clueless to what was going on.

"Why is he even here?" Asked Xander.

Buffy shook her head, "it was that or leave him unsupervised."

"Great" Spike rolled his eyes as they spoke about him "This is what you get for talking to the food. So why are these guys after you lot?"

"Get with the times, they're aliens you dufus, and eew, thanks for the gross alien sex visual!" Moaned Cordelia.

Spike burst out laughing. "Well that's bloody priceless isn't it. You loser's hanging out with a bunch of loser's from another planet. What, couldn't make friends with your own species?"

Kyle wanted to pull his hair out by the roots, he couldn't believe that anyone could be so blasé about the news that aliens were real "how do you just accept this kind of news? Doesn't anybody think this is strange? And am I the only one who has a problem with Billy Idol referring to us as food?"

"You obviously don't want to be here, so why are you Kyle?" Asked Michael.

"Nuh uh, there's no way I'm letting you freaks out of my sight for more than a few seconds."

Isabel sighed, feeling the on-set of another headache, at this rate it would probably be a good idea to invest in a pharmaceutical company.

Cade pulled out a sheet of paper "anyway, here are the partners for patrolling. Buffy and Maria, it's easier this way because you two are staying together, same goes for Angel and Michael. For obvious reasons I've paired up Max and Liz, Alex and Isabel, Willow and Oz. Kyle and Cordelia will work together as will Xander and Spike. The Sheriff, Mr. Giles and myself will be back-up. Mr. Evans will help out once he gets off work."

Xander was not pleased "why don't you put the dead boys together?"

Spike scowled at his forced inclusion of the grunt work "that would be like jumping from one pot of holy water to the next."

Though he would never admit it, Michael was in agreement with Xander and Spike, the whole partner thing was ridiculous "I'll patrol on my own."

Max shook his head "No, it's safer in numbers."

"Yeah well I happen to think I'll be safer alone."

"Michael this is not up for discussion."

Isabel agreed "Max is right. This is not about us anymore, this is about this whole planet now."

"Well personally I don't give a flying pigs ass about this planet" commented Spike, he wanted to be sure that no one had unrealistic dreams of him becoming a defender of the helpless like his gel-haired grandsire.

Buffy glared at her former enemy and current pain in the neck "let me make this simple for you. You either help us, or you find someone else to sponsor your need for a roof over your head. You might have noticed the lack of available crypts for rent in this town."

Kyle decided he didn't want to know what she meant about crypts, or why everyone treated this vampire as if he had the plague whereas they were remarkably casual with the other one.

Except Xander, he seemed to have a burning desire to stake both vampires.

By now, used to all the interruptions, Cade continued "getting back to what I was saying. Cordelia, Kyle, Willow and Oz are on patrol today. Buffy, Maria, Angel, Michael, Spike and Xander are on night duty. We'll all meet up here tomorrow before Max, Liz, Isabel and Alex start their patrol."

Willow clapped her hands together "this is exciting, I feel like a spy or a secret agent or something."

Kyle gave her an annoyed look "yeah, it's bound to be barrels of fun."

"Well Mr. Personality, it's not like you have to walk around with a bitter and sarcastic partner all day" pointed out Cordelia, unhappy about her partnership.

"Meet back here at eight so that we can change shifts" announced Valenti,

"Wills, how much of your ingredients did you bring with?" Asked Buffy.

"Not much, just what I could get past airport security with, why?"

"Do you think you can whip up a ward around this house, seeing as it's operations central?"

Willow nodded "sure, I can do that when we get back tonight, and I probably have enough ingredients to do everyone's home as well."

"What are you talking about?" Queried Isabel.

"Kinda like a witchy alarm, it'll give us prior warning if anyone tries to get in."

"You mean magic?"

"Yep."

Kyle snorted, but remained quiet. Not that any of the Roswellians disagreed with his thoughts on magic, with Alex being the only exception.

"Do the sky thing" suggested Alex. Knowing her glamour would be enough to convince his friends.

Spike meanwhile chortled with glee at their obvious disbelief of Willow's powers "or better yet, why not pop this bunch into another dimension, I vaguely remember Xander's ex-demon having mentioned a land of shrimp and the bonus of that would be no more Aliens, and no need for the bad guys to come knocking. Solves everyone's problems."

"Shut up Spike." Warned Buffy, before looking at Willow "go ahead, do your mojo."

With a snap of her fingers, Willow sent the room into pitch blackness, with another snap, the occupants found themselves floating in a galaxy fill of stars.

"This is way better than the sky thing" comment Alex.

"Thought you guys might like experiencing life a little closer to home" Willow said.

"Anymore doubts?" Questioned Buffy. When nobody answered she said "good, lets get back to business then."

With that, Willow ended the glamour.

All eyes turned to Willow in awe. The only person from the Roswell group not flabbergasted was Alex, instead he sent his friends a knowing smile, before reaching into his bag of goodies. Owning his own hi-tech store definitely came in handy.

"Here are the headsets, just don't put them on unless it's an emergency, otherwise the normal citizens of Roswell are going to ask questions."

Oz nodded "Check. No frightening the normal people."

"I'm sure this doesn't need to be said, but I'm going to say it anyway. Under no circumstances confront anyone you think may be Gua, call for back-up, or if they discover you, then get the hell out of there. Understood?" Max, waited for the day patrol to agree before wishing them good luck.

"Yes sir, El Presidente." Kyle saluted.

"Like I was going to go after the evil Aliens with only a cheerleader as back up" mumbled Kyle to himself as he left the room. "Let's all bow before the great Alien King."

* * *

"I told you I don't care they're Royal aliens, because the keyword there is 'aliens' as in we're surrounded by them. It makes no difference if they are common folk aliens or royal aliens, this is still ALL wrong!" Exclaimed Xander.

Ignoring his outburst, Willow continued to explain to Giles, Angel, Oz and Cordelia about her conversation with Alex the previous night.

"You know, at first I thought associating with aliens would turn out to be bad for my health, but now I'm thinking there may be benefits to this alliance" announced Cordelia, already thinking up ways she could use this to her advantage.

The Scooby discussion was interrupted as Kyle approached the group, "excuse me Cornelia, but you think you could break up the gossip fest so that we can get this stupid patrol thing over with."

Xander choked on his drink at Kyle's butchering of Cordelia's name, thinking that maybe he could like the guy after all, meanwhile, Cordelia was turning an interesting shade of purple.

With his own amused smile, Oz stood up, "excuse me while I make a run for it. The fan is spinning, and the crap is most definitely about to hit it and I don't intend to be here when it happens."

"I disagree" argued Xander "this is the first good thing that has happened since we arrived here."

----------------------------------

Buffy and Maria were standing outside, trying to come up with something to occupy them before they went on patrol.

Buffy perked up as an idea came to her "care to spar for a while? I'd be interested in seeing your fighting techniques."

Maria grinned "sure. We can go the gym, I work there so I should be able to organize a private work out area for us."

"Yet another thing we have in common, both of us work at Gym's" Buffy grimaced "except mine is as a Gym Teacher for high school students. I was so certain after I blew up the school that I would never have to step foot back into high school ever again" she shook her head ruefully. "Giles however thought it was a good idea, his theory is that it is the best way for me to keep any eye out on the Hellmouth without calling attention to myself."

Giles came up behind them, squinting in the bright sunlight "Buffy, I couldn't help over hearing your discussion about sparring, would you mind if I joined you, in a purely academic sense I assure you."

Buffy gave him a mock serious look "good, 'cause I was worried there for a sec."

Giving his Slayer a look of his own, Giles explained "I meant that I would not be tagging along in the normal role as trainer, but rather in the more traditional role as 'watcher'. I'm very interested in what Ms DeLuca is capable of, considering she carries the same title as you do."

"Fine with me Watcher-Man, let's go."

Maria pulled her long locks into a ponytail "I'll just let everyone know where we are going."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kyle and Cordelia were driving around Roswell in his Mustang, looking for anyone suspicious. And just what the hell does suspicious look like anyway he questioned himself.

Cordelia snapped her compact shut with a sigh of frustration "could you stop swearing, I'm starting to feel like I'm riding around in a car with a the hillbillies."

Kyle looked over at Cordelia, taking in her perfectly done long brown hair to her elegant shoes. "You seem normal enough, how did you get involved with these people?"

"Trust me when I tell you that I avoided them as much as possible at first, I mean can you spell misfits and freaks? Anyhow it got to the point where I could no longer deny what was going on in Sunnydale and the next thing you know I was helping them out. Now I work for Angel in L.A. he's a private investigator, but that's only temporarily until my acting career takes off."

"So Angel…he's a vampire right?"

"Yeah, he's like a good vampire, except for that time when he experienced true happiness after…well anyway he went all bad and killed Miss Calendar and tortured Giles… Hey watch it!"

Kyle swerved to keep from hitting a pedestrian.

"Where did you buy your license buddy? I can't afford to get into an accident, scars and superstardom don't go well together…geez!"

"I thought you said he had a soul?"

"You don't have to shout, do I look like I'm deaf? And anyway he does have a soul he just lost it after him and Buffy got all hot and sweaty together, it's his curse, he can't be happy."

"Right! So help me out with my vampire trivia…how exactly do you kill them?"

Cordelia had never been known for her tact, as far as she was concerned people used it to avoid necessary confrontations and the result was that they never expressed their true feelings and thoughts.

And on the subject of feelings, she was not one for sharing them, especially with complete strangers, but for a brief moment she could see the barely concealed panic in Kyle's eyes, and she understood what he was going through. She also understood that his being obnoxious was just a façade to hide the terror he was currently dealing with.

So she dropped her Queen C attitude and gave him a sympathetic look.

"Look Kyle, I understand better than most people what you are experiencing right now. I felt the terror that knowledge brought, and the saying that ignorance is bliss, is the truest statement that I have ever heard. I can promise you this though, it will get easier and as much as I like to complain about my life, it has turned out to be rewarding and don't ever repeat this or I'll kill you, but they're really good guys and they have saved this world a lot. Obviously I can't speak with certainty about your alien friends, but they seem like they're good guys too."

The two young adults shared a look of understanding.

"Maybe, but I think I'll hang on to my anger a while longer, at this point it's the only thing keeping me sane."

Cordelia gave a feminine snort "why do you think I'm a condescending bitch half the time, it's what keeps me sane."

Kyle found himself laughing for the first time in two days.

"And just so we're clear, I still think you are an annoying whiny jerk."

Once again Kyle burst out laughing "that's okay, because I still think you are an annoying, whiny bitch."


	9. Helpless

**First Wave: "destiny is what you do with it..."**

**-**

**Disclaimer:** See chapter 1

_The best way to predict your future is to create it._

-(Author unknown by me – if anyone knows, please share.)

* * *

**Review please...**

Maria grabbed her towel and dabbed the sweat off her forehead. "You are so incredibly fast and strong, I've been training since a kid and even I was no match for you. That's the third time you've had me on my ass in as many minutes."

Buffy grinned "Yeah, it's one of the perks that come with the job."

Giles stood up from his seat outside of the work area "I...er...Maria, I don't want to interfere, I mean I obviously don't know enough about your…um…powers, but have you ever thought of using your powers to increase your strength and agility?"

Maria nodded "The only time I've used those powers in hand to hand was last night. Before that, my skill was always enough without having to also use my powers, but I guess, with opponents like Buffy, who have a superior power would require that I use the full potential given to me. Gotta admit though, it's a sore blow to my ego." She grinned, letting her opponent know that her ego would be okay.

Buffy returned the smile, before gesturing at the work area "Lets do some more sparing and see how you handle."

15 minutes later Buffy was shocked to find herself flat on her back with a triumphant Maria hovering over her and offering her a hand up.

"Your powers are amazing, I mean talk about job perks. I'd give my eye-teeth for a smitten of that power. What else can you do?" Asked Buffy.

"Not sure really. We don't know how much we're capable of, but Cade has led us to believe that we're a lot more powerful than we realize, so much in fact we'd probably never even reach our full potential."

"I guess I've just been kinda humbled. I never embraced my slayer heritage, in fact I fought it as much as possible, but living that life…I kept getting told how important I was and that I was the chosen one, yada yada yada, you get the idea, and before you realize it, you've put yourself on this pedestal. So anyway I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm glad I've met you guy's, 'cos not only is the responsibility of this planet shared by you guy's, but I now realize that I'm not as indispensable as I once thought."

Maria shook her head, "don't get too humbled, you're still the stronger and more skilled one out of us, all I did was harness the powers of my alien heritage to get one up on you…if you think about it, it's kinda like cheating. Besides, no one is ever dispensable, whether or not their secret identity is 'The Slayer'."

Giles stood back as the two girls chatted, a look of consternation on his face. There was a similarity in both girls fighting, which brought him back to the strange co-incidence of the shared title of Chosen One.

There was definitely more going on here that met the eye, but he was damned if he knew what. Buffy was definitely not an Alien, and Maria was definitely not human, but a connection between the two of them remained none-the-less.

--------------------------------

Isabel sat with Cade, her head cradled in her hands.

"I can't explain it, I've been feeling edgy all day…maybe it's PMS."

Cade wasn't sure what to say to her suggestion about PMS, so he chose to ignore it and instead focused on the first part of her sentence.

"Isabel, your instincts are good, especially because you are the Visioner, so if you are feeling edgy then there is probably a good reason for it, and although your title is Visioner, it doesn't mean you will necessarily get visions, in fact if anything, I don't think that is where your strength lies, but rather with your other gifts, of which you have many."

"So you think this feeling is being caused by my Visioner Powers? That my body is trying to tell me that something is wrong?"

"That's exactly what I think. You need to focus on this feeling and try to expand it, get more detail from it so that you can determine what is causing it."

"What if I can't? What if I can't master that part of my powers?"

Cade gave her a gentle pat "I'd be surprised if you could master all of your gifts. You don't have the memories or the training to be able to do that, and you certainly have enough powers that you have mastered. Your Dreamwalking and Astral-Walking are purely yours through your Visioner Gifts, but I don't think it will hurt to try and expand on your other gifts, like for instance your gift of visions. Just remember that if you never learn to control it, it doesn't mean you have failed it just means that as much as you are an alien, you are also human."

"Okay."

"In the meantime, because of your gifts, I do believe that your anxiety is something to be taken very seriously, so I'll give everyone who isn't here a call to warn them."

* * *

The man climbed into the beat up old Chevy and looked at his partner. "It would appear they have more allies."

The driver remained expressionless "Will this be a problem?"

The first man shrugged, he looked out the window and contemplated the question. "They're human, what possible trouble could they be?"

"Very well, the plan will go ahead as scheduled" decided the driver.

"Our Intel informs us that they will all be at the house at eight tonight."

"Inform MOTHER of the scheduled time, they will need to prepare for the link-up."

The passenger nodded before climbing out of the vehicle.

The driver remained in place. Finally the time had come to complete the Second Wave. Personally, he could not understand why Higher Command had waited this long.

* * *

Eight o'clock that evening had everyone gathered in the Evans home, discussing the days events and preparing for the evening patrol.

Sitting on the floor in front of Oz, Willow sifted through her ingredients for the spell as she listened to the discussion around her.

Cade questioned the day shift patrollers on their days.

"So you saw nothing remotely suspicious?"

"Nada." Replied Oz.

Shaking his head, Cade made a note of that on his patrol register, surely by now there should have been some sign of the Gua? Especially considering Isabel's growing anxiety. He trusted her instincts, which were at this moment screaming 'danger'.

Turning to the other patrollers, Cade asked "Kyle, Cordelia, what about you?"

Kyle nodded sombrely "Well now that you mention it, there was this guy, yeah…he had the nerve to pick his nose in public…we should torture him for information, then impregnate him with an alien hybrid and send him on his merry way with a reminder that we come in peace."

"Kyle..." sighed the Sheriff, beyond tired at his sons attitude.

Giving his father a look of disdain Kyle threw his hand up into the air "this whole thing is stupid" he said, before storming out of the room.

Yup Cordelia thought obnoxious Kyle is most definitely back

-------------------

Standing alone in the kitchen, Kyle tried to calm himself down. Angry at himself for letting the situation get to him, angry at his father for putting him in this situation, because there was no way he would leave his father alone with these people and angry with the Aliens for having drawn his father into this war in the first place.

Kyle trusted none of them and had trouble understanding why his father did. It didn't matter…he would find a way to get his father out of this, he just needed a moment to think logically and not with the anger that boiled so closely under the surface.

Sitting down at the kitchen table, Kyle rested his head on his hands, when, from the other room came an ear piercing shriek.

"What the hell?" He exclaimed, before rushing into the living-room.

--

Cordelia clutched her head in agony, and hoped for the vision to end quickly. Vaguely she could hear Angel in the background asking if she was okay. Eventually she collapsed into his arms as the vision slowly abated, leaving her breathless and dazed.

At Angel's request, Mr Evans left to find some aspirin, just as Kyle was returning to see what the commotion was about, they gathered around her and waited for her to speak.

"Bright light….someone's in danger" gasped Cordelia, still feeling confused from the painful vision.

Xander rolled his eyes "helpful visions you get there…"

She ignored him "where is the damn aspirin?" She grated through clenched teeth.

Lifting her to the sofa, Angel answered, "its coming…did you see anything else?"

Still clutching her head she tried to get her mind to focus on the brief pictures that had invaded her head. In panic she jumped up knocking Angel backwards. "It's here…the danger is here!"

The room erupted into chaos as people scrambled for weapons. Unfortunately, this being Roswell and not Sunnydale, weapons were not in great supply.

Buffy reached into her ever present duffel bag and pulled out her crossbow and threw it into Angels hands, she then grabbed her sword for herself and glanced wildly about for anything else that would be of use.

"I would suggest everyone remain calm and seat themselves down!"

Sheriff Valenti was shocked when he looked in the direction of the calm voice and saw a man holding a weapon to his sons head. He immediately sat down."

When everyone else remained standing, the man spoke more forcedly.

"I said seat yourselves!"

Everyone complied, watching the man carefully, searching for an opportunity.

From the doorway to the kitchen, Mr Evans backed silently away. He needed to find something to disarm the man with, unfortunately he didn't have a gun, nor was this one of those occasions where you could dial 911.

Glancing frantically about, Phillip felt his helplessness returning, would he ever be in a position to protect his children?

In the living-room, nobody had noticed the second man standing in the shadows, punching numbers into his Transmitter, relaying a signal to MOTHER to begin the link-up.

Before her vision was engulfed by a blinding light, Liz noticed the second man holding something eerily familiar. It looked exactly like the object she'd picked up outside the base that Max had been held captive in.

Her eyes widened in comprehension Oh God they're going to kill us were the last words she sent telepathically to her husband before the world disappeared.

Michael concentrated his powers on disarming the first man, but before he could so much as focus his powers he was blinded by pure white light, his last conscious thought was that they'd failed and that he hadn't told Maria how much he loved her.

------

Both intruders watched in satisfaction as the room full of humans and Antarians disappeared into the light.

The first one turned to leave the house, his work here was done. He said nothing to his partner as he made his way out into the cool Roswell night.

The remaining Gua was surveying the empty living room one last time when he heard a strangled shout from behind him.

He turned in enough time to stop the charging human by grasping him by his pitifully frail throat.

Phillip Evans choked in the strong grasp of the alien. His eyes bulged as he struggled for air.

As his struggles faded with the last of his strength, he felt his spirit break. He had failed and now his children were gone. With that last thought, he stopped struggling.

* * *

_**Let me know what you think...**_


	10. Not in Kansas anymore

**First Wave: "destiny is what you do with it..."**

* * *

**Disclaimer:** See chapter 1

"We gain strength, and courage, and confidence by each experience in which we really stop to look fear in the face...  
We must do that which we think we cannot."  
-Eleanor Roosevelt-

**Please Review...**

* * *

Max slowly opened his eyes, blinking rapidly at the light and trying clear his befuddled mind.

He knew that something was wrong, but couldn't place the fear. Realizing he was lying on a hard floor and not his bed he slowly swivelled his head to take in his surroundings. The first thing he saw was Buffy who lay unconscious beside him and a little past her was what looked like Oz, also unconscious.

Max couldn't understand what was going on, sitting up abruptly he groaned at the pain in his head, slowly the events leading up to the present became clear. He cast his eyes wildly about the room, looking for Liz, but his eyes found only the sleeping figures of Buffy, Oz and Willow.

In absolute terror he jumped up from his position on the floor, looking for an exit and shouting his wife's name, he found no door, windows or anyway out, nor did he find his beloved.

"No. No. No." This couldn't be happening. It was like the kidnapping all over again. Except this time the capturers had involved Liz.

Using his connection to his wife Max called out desperately Liz! Liz, can you hear me? LIZ!

Max continued to call for Liz as he used every power at his disposal to try and find an opening to the prison, something, anything to manipulate and force open.

There was nothing. No cracks or seems to mar the perfect walls that enclosed him. There was no way out.

Dejectedly he fell back to the floor clutching his bent knees tightly, his mind cruelly telling him he'd failed his wife and that she was now dead, so too were his sisters and his friends, they were his responsibility, they looked up to him and he had failed.

His mind played out all the possible scenarios of what could have befallen his wife, death, torture, the list was endless, and his mind pictured every ghastly event in brutal detail. He shut his eyes in pain as her last words repeatedly thrummed through his head 'Oh God they're going to kill us.' And he had done nothing to stop them.

Again and again he tried to telepathically connect to her, Michael, Maria and Isabel and each time he failed, reminding him of not so long ago when he'd tried to do the same, that time from a white cell. The only difference being then he'd known that they were safe. Until that is, the Government had manufactured their fake deaths in order to better control him.

Who were these new tormentors? Gua or Government? Where was everyone else?

Beside him, Buffy began to stir, but Max found himself strangely uncaring. She was not his priority, nor was she his responsibility, his wife, sisters and friends were, and they were nowhere to be seen.

* * *

From what seemed a great distance away, Maria could make out someone calling her name.

"Maria, Oh God please, Maria please be alive!"

Maria opened her eyes, she moaned at the tightness around her body, and realized it was Michael clutching her to him in terror.

"Ugh! If this is what alive feels like I'd much rather be dead thank you very much, and unless you stop squeezing me so tightly I might find my wish coming true!"

Michael grinned, he released a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding and hugged Maria to him more tightly than before. Maria climbed out of Michael's arms and looked around the room for the first time, taking note of the lack of windows or doors.

"So…um…where are we?" She asked curiously, unsure if she should be concerned or not.

"And where is everyone else?" Michael answered her question with one of his own.

"BUFFY!"

Maria jumped at the sound of Angels voice, turning around she noticed him desperately trying to punch a hole in the wall. With each frustrated punch he cried out her name, ignoring Maria and Michael completely.

"Hey dude, if you could shut the hell up for one second we may be able to find a way out of here, a way that doesn't involve screaming like a lunatic that is." Ground out Michael, who although sympathetic to the Vampire's plight, was still sporting one hell of a headache and so found himself extremely short of patience at the endless and most importantly pointless shouting.

Growling, Angel shifted into his game face "If they hurt her or Cordy, they're dead!"

"If anyone one is hurt, believe me when I say step in line for the killing!" Agreed Maria, her mind also on her loved ones.

* * *

Alex massaged his temples with a groan "Why do I feel like I've been repeatedly pounded in the head by a sledgehammer?"

With a grimace of pain Alex took in his surroundings "strike that question, here's a more important one…where are we?"

With a similar groan of pain, Liz sat up next to Alex, her first thoughts of her husband "where's Max?"

Alex took note of the people in the cell with him "and Izzy?"

The Sheriff who was already on his feet perusing the cell added "looks like more than half of us are missing."

Cade frowned in concentration, his thoughts on Gua tactics "if we're still alive then I'm assuming so are they. We've probably all been separated."

Alex shook his head in disgust "great! And it just so happens that none of us in here have powers." As usual, it looked like it was going to be up to his wife to save his ass.

Cade turned from his own perusal of the room to look at Alex grimly "I don't think it matters much, there aren't any doors or windows in the place. Besides, the Gua aren't ignorant of the Royal Fours capabilities, they've more than likely found a way to disable the Royals."

Alex shared Cade's grim look, before a smile settled on his face "yes, but they are most definitely ignorant of the humans among us with superhuman powers. That may just give us the edge we need to find a way out of here."

"I hope you're right."

* * *

Xander scrutinised the room with the experience born of being in similar situations constantly due to his close relationship to the Slayer. "I don't think we're in Kansas anymore…"

Giles gave the boy a look of deep irritation "we never were in Kansas" with a brief pause to translate the teenage language into English he shook his head in further irritation "right, pop culture reference."

After many years of knowing the Slayer and her friends, Giles continued to find their regard of dangerous situations as something to laugh about disconcerting.

No doubt it was what kept them from developing schizophrenic tendencies and depressive states after the lives they led, which was something to be admired. Yet it still galled him that they continued to treat such situations without the seriousness that it deserved.

Xander gave the Watcher a look "guess someone woke up on the wrong side of the concrete slab."

Giles ignored the comment, knowing it was true. Instead he looked around and noticed the lack of other prisoners "there are only two of us…"

"Great deductive powers G-Man. Its common military practise to separate prisoners, it keeps them weaker and makes them easier to control."

Giles gave the boy a nod in understanding.

"I wonder if the cellmates were chosen at random, or if it serves a certain purpose?"

Giles looked to Xander for the answer, knowing that the boy had more knowledge in this area due to his brief stint as a solider one Halloween years ago.

Puffing his chest out in pride at being knowledge-guy, Xander shook his head "I'm thinking in this case it's random, cause if it is the Goo Goo Dolls…"

"Gua."

"Right! If it is the Gua, then they have no friggen idea who half their captives are, in fact, we're probably on the list of top most expendable prisoners."

"Random though the cell arrangements might be, the kidnapping itself was certainly not. Which begs the question, what do they want with us?" mused Giles.

"Not us, them. The Gwark…Gua, whatever, they only want the Royal family of Mars."

Giles agreed "because killing them gives the Gua free access to earth,"

"Yeah, not that I saw them having any trouble in the accessing department when they kidnapped us."

"Unfortunately Xander, that is all the information I have on the subject, you would have to ask one of them for further details if it piques your interest that much."

Xander grinned at the Watchers obvious bad mood "I betcha Wills and Buff are missing me and my excellent humour."

* * *

Buffy gave Max another withering look before turning to look at Oz "thank God and his merciful heart that Xander's not here. I mean I love the guy and all, but by now he'd be driving us all crazy."

"Hmm" Agreed Oz, who was sitting in a corner of the room holding a still sleeping Willow.

"We have to find Liz!" Shouted Max, feeling angry with his lack of power and the continuous banter in the room. He found himself annoyed that Buffy was not taking this threat seriously.

"So you keep saying, I'm beginning to think Xander wouldn't have been so annoying after all." She looked pointedly at Max, who to her annoyance was not catching her none too subtle hint.

With a frown, she made her way over to Oz and Willow "how's she doing?"

Oz shrugged "she seems fine, just asleep."

Buffy nodded, concern for her friend showing clearly on her face.

"Got a plan?" Asked Oz as she sat down beside him.

"Gonna kill the first alien who walks through that door."

"Good plan."

* * *

Spike ignored his bloody and bruised hands and continued to pound on the walls in desperation "somebody had bloody better let me out of here!"

He alternated between thumping his head on the walls and pounding his fists on them.

"Get me out of here before I loose what bloody mind I have left" he screamed.

"What is your problem?" Snapped Isabel, feeling desperate enough herself to begin slamming her head against the wall.

Spike rounded on the alien princess with a growl "my problem is you and you" he pointed first at Isabel then at Cordelia.

"If I have to hear one more complaint on how dirty it is and how your clothes are ruined and how messy your hair is…"

"You tell them bleachy!" Cheered Kyle from his corner of the room.

Spike turned "and you with your continuous whining on how it's everyone else's fault you are here."

"Yeah, it's very annoying" agreed Cordelia.

Kyle sneered "and you would know, being Queen of all that is Annoying!"

Isabel snorted in agreement.

Cordelia gave Isabel a condescending look "well what about you and all your talk of powers…I don't see any powers working to get us out of here!"

"I already told you that I've tried, nothings working!"

This time it was Cordelia who snorted.

"Help! Somebody help me!" Shouted Spike as he resumed his banging on the walls.

"I should have ignored my overly curious mind and stayed away." Groaned Kyle.

"Hello? Is anybody there?" Shouted Spike, increasing his volume with each pound on the wall.

"Yeah maybe you should have, it would have saved us all a headache" replied Isabel, turning her 'Ice Queen' glare upon Kyle.

"Just stake me and get it over with, stick me in the sunlight, shower me in holy water…anything!" Begged Spike.

* * *

Krieg paced his luxurious quarters as his men reported on the capture of the elusive and well protected Antarians.

He interrupted the long diatribe to ask "so we have them?"

Sharn nodded with immense relief at the success of the operation "as well as some humans Sir."

"Eliminate the humans, they are worthless to me...wait! On second thought keep them, there may be a reason for them working with the King, scan everyone, let's see if they're really as human as they appear to be. Did you find out which ones are the Chosen Two?"

Sharn swallowed nervously "not yet Sir."

"Find out! We need to find out where they get their superior powers from, and I want to know why our weapon is useless while all four of them live."

"I will see to it Sir."

Krieg sat down in one of his plush chairs "and bring me their King, I want to see what inspires such an enormous following."

"Very well Sir."

Krieg rocked back and forth in his chair "before you bring him in, I want to see Joshua, he is the only one ever to have met Foster and lived."

Sharn felt himself shrinking away from his master before speaking up "Uh, Sir, Joshua is not here…"

"Then get him here you imbecile!"

"Wha…what should I do with Foster Sir?"

Krieg smiled for the first time "nothing for now, later I would like to….play with this human who has caused us untold damage in our cause."

"Yes Sir."

* * *

Alex squealed when the wall rolled away to form a doorway. What looked like a deformed head on a muscular body strode through the doorway that had not been there previously to stand before them.

"Do not try anything." Sharn indicated small holes in the ceiling that had appeared in the last few seconds.

"There are numerous weapons trained on you at this very moment" He then pointed at Liz "Identify yourself!"

She stood still, confused and frightened.

He backhanded her and warned the now angry prisoners to stay back if they wished to remain unharmed.

"Identify yourself!" He repeated with more force.

Still unsure of what was expected of her, she responded with her name and hoped it wouldn't be an excuse for another backhand "Liz Evans." To her relief this seemed to be the answer he wanted.

He pointed a device that looked similar to a small GPS at her and read the data it projected.

Without emotion he declared her human before facing Alex "Identify Yourself!"

"Alex Whitman, and I can save you the trouble, we're all human."

Sharn ignored him, and instead pointed the scanning device in his direction "You are human."

"What did I just say?" Mumbled Alex quietly, not wanting to be hit, but definitely looking forward to an opportunity to revenge the soon to be bruised face of Liz.

"Identify yourself"

"Jim Valenti."

After consulting the scanned data, Sharn determined that Jim was yet another human.

"Identify yourself."

"Cade Foster."

Sharn looked up sharply, then into a communication device he spoke in his own language, obviously announcing to all that were interested that The Twice Blessed Man was in custody.

With a lingering look in Cade's direction, Sharn exited the cell.

* * *

Xander gasped in surprise as Sharn entered the cell, both from surprise that there was in fact a door, something he was beginning to doubt after hours of search, but mostly because of his malformed appearance.

"What the hell?"

Giles gave him a look to silence him, which Xander for once obeyed.

"There are numerous weapons trained on you, do not try anything stupid."

The prisoners remained silent. Although they could perceive no weapons, this was not the time to test out the threat.

Both Xander and Giles were then made to identify themselves whilst Sharn used his scanning device to determine if they were human.

Sharn's eyes turned on Giles after reading the results, something peculiar was going on here because although the results showed him to be human, there were also slight indicators of ancient magic in the DNA, indicators that were remarkably similar to the Old Ones.

Xander nudged Giles and whispered in his ear "Is it just me, or does that Alien look remarkably like…"

"A vampire…yes!" He watched as the Alien left the cell and the wall closed behind him.


	11. MOTHER

**First Wave: "destiny is what you do with it..."**

* * *

Disclaimer: See chapter 1

The time when you need to do something is when no one else is willing to do it, when people are saying it can't be done.

-Mary Frances Berry

* * *

Due to not having an internet connection at home, it has taken me forever to update. Please accept my sincere apologies.

Reviews will be muchly appreciated :-)

* * *

In the third cell Sharn found the King, he was easily identified by his DNA structure and Sharn had him immediately removed from the room to be put in a separate cell until Krieg was ready to see him.

Buffy watched helplessly as Max struggled with the Guards that were brought in to remove him.

She knew that if she made a move, she'd be signing the death warrants of her and her friends. This was one of those times that she had to bide her time for a better opportunity to make itself known.

Yet the Slayer within her struggled with the knowledge that she was doing nothing whilst an innocent was in trouble. Instead of standing up for said innocent, she was watching quietly from the sidelines.

As Max was dragged from the cell, she turned her full Slayer glare on to the Alien remaining in the room with her.

Remaining oblivious to the death glare, Sharn then turned his attention to the other occupants of the room.

As he scanned the three remaining people he became more and more confused by the second, the scanners repeatedly indicated that they were human yet not human.

"What are you?" He demanded.

Buffy eyed the alien before replying "Excuse me?"

"Your DNA indicates that you are some sort of mutated human!" But more than that, it indicated a connection to that of something far greater than that of mutated genes. Which was impossible for she was human, and yet the proof was there for him to see on his scanner. Something strange was going on here.

"Well I've been called a freak before, but never by someone with a forehead as large as yours."

He ignored her impertinence and focused on the other strange human whose DNA was that of a human, animal combination.

"What are you?"

"Werewolf, also known as a lycanthrope. But during my free time I'm a guitarist for the Dingoes."

Sharn looked confused, but decided not to argue the matter and instead studied the DNA of the last human, her results were normal, she was undoubtedly human proving his scanner was in fact working.

Before Sharn could switch off the scanner, it emitted a beep. His eyes widened at the sight of a DNA strand he had almost missed. So small it was, yet obviously in the process of mutating. Yet that wasn't the strangest thing, what brought his heart to a thumping crescendo was that with each passing moment the strand was changing. A slow process in terms of years, but at an impossible rate for the mutation of DNA. The young red haired girl was with each passing moment developing the DNA of that of an Old One.

"Impossible!" He ground out, casting furious glares at the three humans. "I don't know what you're playing at, but be assured that we will find out."

With that he stormed from the room, his earlier glee at finding the King forgotten in his confusion and anger.

As the door slid shut, leaving no indication that there had ever been a door, the cells remaining occupants looked at each other in confusion.

"He was a vampire right? I mean it wasn't some trick of light or something right?" Asked Willow, still reeling from the effects of her enforced slumber.

"Definitely!" agreed Oz. "With a slight case of PMS on the side."

Buffy's eyes remained on the now seamless wall "Good enough for me…just need to find me a stake!"

"But I thought we were kidnapped by aliens?" Willow questioned.

"Un-dead, or Alien, they're gonna be dead-dead soon."

------------------

In the fourth cell he found Michael and Maria, the scanner indicated them to be Antarian as well as the Chosen two. He immediately had them contained and removed.

Sharn turned the scanner on Angel and was dumbfounded. "Impossible!" He spluttered.

Angel took little notice of what appeared to be a highly flustered Alien, in fact his rage reaching uncontrollably levels was so consuming that he barely registered the Alien at all.

The Demon within him clamouring for blood, at whatever cost. Demanding to be set free, to rip the limbs off of his capturers who had taken from him that which he treasured most. The people he loved.

Ridges formed on his forhead when he thought of Cordelia, of her scathing untactful comments, her preoccupation with fashion and beauty and all things materialistic.

Cordelia who suffered the agony of migraines for vague pictures of people in trouble in the hopes that she might glean enough from them to be able to help. The girl whose shallow exterior hid a courageous and loyal friend.

His eyes turned yellow to that of a predator, he bared his newly elongated teeth in a growl as he thought of Buffy. His only love, and the one person who was created to be the very opposite of what he was. The light to his darkness, the beauty to his beast, the slayer to his vampire, she was everything that he was not, but more than that, she was the Juliet to his Romeo.

Fate may have cast them as star crossed lovers. Though their love doomed, never allowed to be explored, she would forever remain the one girl in all the world that could make him happy, and even though he was cursed, not allowed to experience true happiness, fate could never take away his love for her, and neither would a bunch of vampire-looking aliens.

Angel blinked in surprise when he finally noticed the Alien sporting the 'vamp' look.

Shaking off his surprise, he decided he didn't care, because said alien was soon going to be sporting a dead vamp look.

Meanwhile Sharn remained incredulous as Angel shifted into the very image of a Gua.

There could be only one explanation "Obviously you are Gua, I'm assuming you are an undercover agent?"

When Angel didn't answer him...not with words anyway, but rather something resembling the sound an animal would make, Sharn concluded that Angel was possibly of a higher rank than him, therefore privy to more sensitive information that Sharn was.

Sharn shrugged "fine, I understand that you are not authorised to disclose your mission with me, however, since you are here perhaps you could assist whilst I round up the Antarian filth and human sludge."

He shivered with disgust before leaving the cell, not waiting for Angel's reply.

Angel took the opportunity offered to him to leave the cell, he was more than willing to pretend to be Gua in order to get his friends and get out.

Together Angel and Sharn walked along a curving corridor before stopping in front of what appeared to be a TV screen on the wall.

When Spike saw Sharn he mistook him for a fellow vampire and sighed in relief "took you bloody well long enough" he ground out, wanting more than anything to be far away from the group of annoying ones he had been held captive with.

Sharn however remained confused. "What?"

Angel stepped forward still in game face and indicated Spike "scan him, you will find that he too is Gua."

Angel gave Spike a pointed look, which the younger vampire misinterpreted and so instead chose to return it with a sneer of his own.

Whilst Spike was scanned, Angel addressed him "come, we have work to do." Again sending the younger vampire a pointed look.

Spike bristled at the tone of authority, debating whether punching the pillock would be worth it.

His options were limited. He could stay with his idiot human cell mates or follow the ponce. One would require swallowing his pride, but free him from the cell. The other would give him immense satisfaction as he knocked the lights out of Drusilla's Gel-haired Soulful freak of a sire, but leave him to rot with the whining threesome.

It was a no-win situation.

Unless, he thought this out carefully. He could follow the wanker and be free of the talking blood banks, and then later take out his frustration on his pillock of a grandsire.

Brilliant!

It would require having patience, but it would be worth it...hell who was he kidding, he'd probably last as long as it took to reach the doorway before instinct took over and he shoved his fist in the broody ones face.

Giving Angel a looked smothered in scorn, he asked, "what kind of work? There had better be a lot of dosh involved!"

Isabel flew off the floor and attacked Angel "how could you? We trusted you!"

With a good impression of Angelus, he coldly shoved her away from him.

She then turned her anger on Spike who gave her his trademark smirk before replying.

"S'long as my own ass is covered I could care shitless what happens to you lot. I never pretended otherwise, so stop acting like it's a surprise pet."

Sharn continued to scan the occupants of the room, all but one turned out to be human, the scanner indicated that Isabel was the last of the Antarians. He had her removed, then left the room amidst outrageous cries from its occupants.

---------------------

When Maria woke for the second time that day, she found herself strapped to a gurney and unable to use her powers. Frantically she glanced around the room, which was bare save for a few strange looking machines, which she found she was hooked up to. Michael! Michael can you hear me?

No answer.

Maria's body trembled as she fought to suppress tears. Her courage failing as she fought the panic that began to overwhelm her.

Squeezing her eyes tightly shut she fought for control, but failing miserably as her mind conjured up the atrocities that was probably befalling her loved ones this very moment.

Would their future and hers be filled with pain, experimentation and eventual extermination...

She immediately knew when her heart rate increased above normal because a nearby machine began emitting beeps that matched the rate of her heartbeats. She lifted her head and looked at the metal straps holding her down, she strained at them to no avail and dejectedly slumped back on the gurney.

With fear, her senses seemed to triple, and she could feel as beads of sweat popped up on her brow. She had the irrational fear that the oxygen was being sucked out of the room and had to quickly calm herself before she began to hyperventilate, she'd never felt so alone and terrified in her entire life. Where was everyone?

With a broken sob, she whispered "Michael?"

There was no answer.

---------------

Isabel was thrown unceremoniously into another identical cell, but this time to her relief her brother was there and so she ran into his arms sobbing hysterically.

She knew that now everything would be okay, her brother would get them out of this, Max was like that, somehow he could always save the day.  
She remembered when they were children how no matter what Michael got himself into that Max would come through and get him out of it, and she remembered that no problem had ever seemed too big for her, because she could always take it to her brother and he would somehow find a solution…Max was just like that.

It was what made him a King.

"What's going on Max? I thought Angel and Spike were on our side, now it turns out they were playing us all along. I mean how could we be so stupid to believe them, we even went along when they insisted they could not enter a home without being invited, how could we fall for that?"

"Sshhh" he stroked her hair as he began to make plans to get out of there. Up until now he'd been beside himself with concern for his family and had let the concern overwhelm him to the point that he had become almost catatonic. But seeing his sister physically if not emotionally unhurt had jarred him out of his self-pity. Max was back and he was angry!

Isabel's tear streaked face looked up into the eyes of her brother, he looked back, calm and in control as always.

She could feel his fear for Liz and for all of them, but she knew that he would not fall apart, he would remain in control until the end. He put others needs before his own, he put others lives before his own.

Max was just like that…

-----------------

Joshua walked along the corridor towards the quarters that belonged to Krieg, his face grim and his mind on the task that had been given to him before he had been called back by Krieg.

The Guardian known as Gaeia had left him in no doubt to his choice and had given him the makings of a plan to begin putting in place.

It would probably get him killed, but he was her loyal servant and had been for many years now and in the end, the sacrifice of his life was small in comparison to the amount of sacrifices that had been made over the past centuries in order to protect the four prisoners that had been captured.

Their destinies were much bigger than his life, and so it would be a sacrifice that he made with honour.

The Guardian had told him that thousands of years ago, in preparation for these days, many people, more worthy than himself had given up their lives to keep safe the destined Royal Four. Now it would be his turn.

With a sense of finality Joshua entered Kriegs quarters.

"Ah, Joshua...or do you prefer Josh'a?"

"Sir" Joshua nodded his head in the direction of his superior, wisely not answering the question put to him moments before, knowing that Krieg was not expecting him to choose anything other than the name given to him at creation when he stepped out of his incubation chamber.

"There is no need for your human husk here, why don't you remove it!"

It was not a question, but rather an order. Joshua did as he was told. In his husk, he resembled that of a well built African American, without it he was a typical Gua, enlarged brow, canine like teeth, long claw like fingers. Although typically no two Gua were the same, but always there were enough similarities to distinguish a Gua from other species.

As was his husk, so was Joshua's Gua characteristics of that of one with dark skin and a face that showed little or no emotion. Joshua had learnt from a young age that showing emotion was a weakness, in his species weakness could get a person killed, and so with years of practise he was more than capable of hiding all feeling, and not even the most wizened of all his people could read him, he saw this as his strongest point.

Krieg nodded that he was pleased, before continuing, "tell me, what have you been up too?"

"I infiltrated the FBI as ordered Sir, and have kept myself busy by keeping their attention elsewhere and not on the presence of Aliens, this has afforded us the time and freedom to concentrate on the Antarians. We have also inserted some of our people in the government. But all this you already knew Sir!"

Krieg barked out a laugh. "Yes, I can see you are as astute as ever. We have Foster in our possession, here on the Guasha Fleet."

Joshua's face remained impassive.

"What can you tell me about him?"

"Nothing you don't already know Sir!"

"Come now, you've survived many a time in his presence, surely you should know something of this man by now? Apart from the Antarians, he is possibly our largest threat."

Joshua was saved from answering the question when Sharn announced himself outside the quarters.

Krieg bid him enter.

"Sir! We have the Chosen two in the medical rooms, I insisted that they were kept in rooms far from each other, for safety reasons. I have also isolated the King and the Visioner in another cell."

"Excellent!" Exclaimed Krieg, immensely happy with the way his plan was working. When Sharn did not immediately leave he asked "is there something else you wanted?"

"Yes Sir, I found some of our men in the cells with the prisoners, apparently in the name of our cause they were trying to infiltrate the Antarians, they are in the possession of a lot of information due to the successful infiltration Sir."

"Really? How is it that I knew nothing of this particular exercise? Never mind, I can see you are not going to be of much help. Put them in the briefing room."

"Yes Sir."

Krieg directed his attention back to Joshua "I'll speak with you later, In the meantime why don't you debrief the Undercovers, and make it quick because Mabis will be looking for an update on the situation soon."

Joshua nodded and strode out the room.

It only took 15 minutes, by then Joshua knew that these men were not who they said they were, his problem was that these men had the exact DNA structure of that of the Gua, how was that possible?

From Sharn's description, these men wore no husk, and yet could at anytime shift into that of a human.

His first thought had been they were Guardians like Gaeia, but both had passed the DNA scan without question.

Something strange was going on here.

"Look, It's obvious you are not Gua, but the question remains who are you, and more importantly, where do your loyalties lie?"

Neither Spike nor Angel said a word, they looked at each other, unsure of what course of action to take.

"Don't answer that, I already know, maybe someday you can tell me how you pulled this off, in the meantime you can help me get your friends out of here."

"Where exactly is here mate?"

Joshua looked confused. "You are on MOTHER, the mothership of the Guasha fleet heading for Guasha. I thought you already knew?"


End file.
